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Book A\ U 5 



DICTIONARY 
THE HOLY BIBLE, 

FOTf 



THE USE OF SCHOOLS AND YOUNG PERSONS 






Professor Extraordinary of Sacred Literature in the Theological Seminary, Andover 



ILLUSTRATED 

®2TO J&sqps, antr Hngrabfttfls on SS?oofc» 



FOURTH EDITION 



BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED BY CROCKER AND BREWSTER, 

47 Washington Street. 



1845 



MEADVILLE 
THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL 



A°- 



v 



£ LIST OF MAPS. 

* 1. Asia Minor, Greece, &c p. 28 

% 2. Canaan 52 

% 3. Judea 174 

•*• 4. Peninsula of Mount Sinai, Idumea, &c 93 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by 

Crocker & Brewsteb, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 






STEREOTYPED AT THE 
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 



PREFACE. 



The following work is intended to present in a com- 
pendious form to the public, and especially to young 
persons, the more important portions of the biblical in- 
formation contained in the octavo edition of Calmefs 
Dictionary, recently prepared by the Editor, and issued 
by the same enterprising Publishers. In that work, it 
was a chief object to bring together such information as 
might facilitate the researches of biblical students of an 
advanced standing, who wish to investigate and judge 
for themselves, and therefore require a specification of 
the sources of information, and an exhibition of the 
processes of induction and reasoning by which the va- 
rious results have been obtained. In the present work, 
the Editor has aimed to give only the results of his pre- 
vious investigations ; and to present them in such a form 
as may be attractive and useful to the very large class of 
young persons and others, who may be supposed to take 
an interest in this species of knowledge, without being 
in a situation to make a satisfactory use of the larger 



vi PREFACE. 

work. There are doubtless thousands of such persons, 
especially of the female sex, to whom the information 
contained in this small volume would be in a high de- 
gree interesting and instructive ; but who, nevertheless, 
would never think of seeking for it in the larger and 
more learned volumes, in which it is usually contained. 

In order to bring the work within a small compass, I 
have, in the first place, omitted the definitions of words 
merely English, in the use of which there is nothing 
peculiar, and which every body understands, or at least 
may understand, from a common English dictionary. 
From this rule I have departed only in a few cases, 
where such words have a peculiar, or perhaps the- 
ological sense in the Bible. In the next place, I have 
also omitted all those names of persons and places 
which occur but seldom, and of which nothing more is 
Known than appears in the passages where they occur. 
As the reader, in perusing these passages, knows at 
once all that can be known about such persons and 
places, it seemed inexpedient to swell the volume by 
inserting their names. 

In one other way, too, I have been able greatly to com- 
press the size of the work. In the place of a prolix 
article, I have often inserted a new one, either written 
for the occasion, and condensed as much as possible, or 
sometimes abstracted from articles which I had before 



PREFACE. vii 

published in a different work. It has every where been 
my endeavor, not to omit any results, or any information, 
which might be useful to the classes of readers for whom 
this volume is more particularly designed. The pro- 
cesses of induction and reasoning, the allusions to the 
original Hebrew and Greek of the Scriptures, have of 
course been passed by ; and also all the references to 
sources and authorities, excepting to the Bible itself. 
These last I have endeavored to render full and correct ; 
and, with this view, have myself taken pains to verify 
them all. 

From these statements it will be seen, that, while this 
work professes to be, and is, in a measure, a compendium 
of the recent American edition of Calmet, it is also, at 
least in an equal degree, a new and independent work. 

If I may be permitted to advise in respect to the mode 
of using this little volume, I would strongly recommend, 
that it be read and studied chiefly as a companion of the 
Bible, and always with the Bible in the hand ; and that 
every reference to the sacred volume be immediately 
looked out, and the passages, or the sense of them, faith- 
fully impressed upon the memory. In this way, not 
only will a great amount of biblical knowledge be ac- 
quired by degrees, but the mind of the learner, by thus 
comparing the statements of facts with the authorities 
on which they rest, is ever gaining discipline and 



viii PREFACE. 

strength, and learning to "prove all things, and hold 
fast that which is good." 

That, through this little work, the Editor maybe useful 
in his day and generation to his youthful friends, by 
enlarging and facilitating their acquaintance with that 
Holt Book, in which alone are contained the words of 
eternal life, and treasures of wisdom that will never fail, 
is his sincere and fervent prayer. 

EDWARD ROBINSON. 

Theol. Sent. Andover, April, 1833. 



DICTIONARY 



THE HOLY BIBLE 



AAR 

A, the first letter in almost all 
alphabets. In Hebrew, it is called 
aleph ; in Greek, alpha. Both 
the Hebrews and Greeks used 
their letters as numerals ; and 
hence A (aleph or alpha) denoted 
one, or the Jirst. So our Lord 
says, " I am alpha and omega, 
i. e. the first and the last, the be- 
ginning- and the end." Rev. 1:8, 
11. 21:6.22:13. Omega was the 
last letter of the Greeks. 

AARON, the son of Amran 
and Jochebed, of the tribe of Le- 
vi, and elder brother of Moses. 
Ex. 6:20. He was three years 
older than Moses, Ex. 7:7 5 was 
the assistant of the latter in bring- 
ing - Israel out of Egypt, Ex. 7 : 1, 
&c. and was then consecrated as 
the first high-priest, Ex. c. 28, 29. 
Lev. c. 8. Yet he fell sometimes 
into grievous sins ; he made the 
golden calf at Sinai, Ex. c. 32 ; 
he joined Miriam in sedition 
against Moses, Num. c. 12 ; and 
with Moses disobeyed God at 
Kadesh, Num. 20:8— 12. God, 
therefore, did not permit him to 
enter the promised land ; but he 
died on mount Hor, in Edom, in 
the fortieth year after leaving 
Egypt, at the age of about 123 



ABA 

years. Num. 20:22, &c. InDeut. 
10:6, he is said to have died at 
Mosera, which was probably the 
station close by mount Hor, 
whence he ascended into the 
mount. 

ABADDON, or Apollyon. 
The former name is Hebrew, and 
the latter Greek, and both signify 
the destroyer. Rev. 9:11. He is 
called the " angel of the abyss," 
i. e. the angel of death, or the 
destroying angel. 

ABANA and PHARPAR, 
rivers of Damascus. 2 K. 5 : 12. 
Interpreters have been much di- 
vided in regard to the streams 
probably designated by these 
names. One of these undoubt- 
edly is the present Barrada, (the 
cold,) the Chrysorrhoas of the 
ancients, which rises in Antilib- 
anus, and flows through Damas- 
cus. Just above the city, it is 
divided into several artificial 
branches, which pass around the 
city on the outside, and afford 
water for the numerous gardens 
by which the city is surrounded 5 
while the main stream passes 
through and waters the city it- 
self. Below the city, they again 
mostly unite, and the river loses 



ABE 



[2] 



ABI 



itself in a marsh a few miles S. E. i 
from Damascus. If we now sup- 
pose that originally there were 
but two branches in all, (the others 
being 1 a work of later times,) 
these two branches may perhaps 
have been the Abana and Phar- 
par.— Another supposition is, 
that one of the two streams is the 
Barrada; while the other may 
be the little river Fifth, which 
rises near the village of like name, 
in a pleasant valley about 15 or 
20 miles N. W. of Damascus. 
Dr. Richardson describes it as 
issuing at once from the lime- 
stone rock, a deep, rapid stream 
of about thirty feet wide. It is 
pure and cold as iced water, and, 
after coursing down a rugged 
channel for above a hundred 
yards, falls into the Barrada, 
which comes from another valley, 
and is here only half as wide as 
the Fijih. 

ABARIM, mountains east of 
Jordan, over against Jericho, on 
the northern border of Moab, 
within the limits of the tribe of 
Reuben. It is impossible to de- 
fine exactly their extent. The 
mountains Nebo, Pisgah and 
Peor were summits of the Aba- 
rim. Num. 27:12. 33:47,48. 
Deut. 32:49. 

ABBA, a Syriac word signi- 
fying father. When the Jews 
came to speak Greek, this word 
was probably retained from their 
ancient language, as being easier 
to pronounce, especially for chil- 
dren, than the Greek pater. Rom. 
,8:15. 

ABEDNEGO, a Ghaldee name 
given by the king of Babylon's 
officer to Azariah, one of Daniel's 
companions. Dan. 1 :7. 

I. ABEL, the second son of 
Adam and Eve. He became a 
shepherd, and offered a sacrifice 
from his flocks to God, at the 
same time that Cain, his brother, 



offered of the fruits of the earth. 
God had respect to Abel's sacri- 
fice, and not to Cain's ; hence 
Cain in anger killed Abel. Gen. 
c. 4. The meaning is, that Abel 
trusted in God, andtherefbre," by 
faith," offered a more acceptable 
sacrifice than Cain. Heb. 11:4. 

II. ABEL is also prefixed in 
the names of several places, as 
Abel-Beih-Maacah, Abel- Car- 
maim, &c. In such cases it sig- 
nifies place. 

AB1A, in the N. T. the same 
as Abu ah ir the O. T. which 

ABIATHAR, son of Ahime- 
lech, and high-priest of the Jews. 
When Saul sent his emissaries to 
Nob, to destroy all the priests 
there, Abiathar, who was young, 
fled to David in the wilderness, 
1 Sam. 22:11, &c. with whom he 
continued in the character of 
high-priest. Saul, it would ap- 
pear, transferred the dignity of 
the high-priesthood from Itha- 
mar's family to that of Eleazar r 
by conferring the office upon Za- 
dok. Thus there were, at the 
same time, two high-priests in 
Israel ; Abiathar with David, and 
Zadok with Saul. This double 
priesthood continued from the 
death of Ahimelech till the reign 
of Solomon 5 when Abiathar, at- 
taching himself to Adonijah, was 
deprived by Solomon of his 
priesthood. 1 K. 2:27. The 
race of Zadok alone exercised 
this ministry during and after the 
reign of Solomon, excluding the 
family of Ithamar, according to 
the prediction made to Eli the 
high-priest. 1 Sam. 3:11, &c. 

A difficulty arises from the cir- 
cumstance, that in 1 K. 2:27, 
Abiathar is said to be deprived 
of the priest's office by Solomon ; 
while in 2 Sam. 8:17. 1 Chr. 
18:16. 24:3,6,31, Ahimelech the 
son of Abiathar is said to be high- 



AB1 



L 3 j 



ABI 



priest along with Zadok. The 
most probable solution is, that 
both lather and son each bore the 
two names Ahimelech and Abia- 
thar; as was not at all unusual 
among' the Jews. (See one ex- 
ample under Abigail.) In this 
way, also, we may remove the 
difficulty arising from Mark 2:26, 
where Abiathar is said to have 
given David the shew bread, in 
allusion to 1 Sam. 21 : 1, &c.where 
it is Ahimelech. 

ABIB, the first month of the 
ecclesiastical year of the He- 
brews; afterwards called Nisan. 
It answered to our March, or to 
part of March and April. Abib 
signifies green ears of grain, or 
fresh fruits. It was so named, 
because corn, particularly barley, 
was in ear at that time. 

ABIGAIL, formerly the wife 
of Nabal of Carmel, and after- 
wards of David. Upon receiving 
information of Nabal's ingratitude 
to the king, 1 Sam. 25:14, &e. 
she loaded several asses with 
rovisions, and, attended by 
ome of her domestics, went out 
to meet David. Her manners 
and conversation gained for her 
his esteem, and, as soon as the 
days of mourning for Nabal's 
death, which happened soon af- 
terwards, were over, he made 
her his wife. The issue of the 
marriage was, as some critics 
suppose, two sons, Chiliab and 
Daniel, 2 Sam. 3:3. 1 Chr. 
3:1; but it is most probable that 
these names were borne by one 
person. 

I. ABIJAH, called also Abi- 
jam, was the son of Rehoboam, 
and second king of Judah. He 
succeeded his father B. C. 954, 
and reigned only three years. 
1 K. 14:1, &c. 2 Chr. c. 13 

II. ABIJAH, or Abia, a priest 
of the posterity of Aaron, and 
founder of a familv. When all 



the priests were divided into 24 
classes, the 8th class was called 
from him the class of Abia. \ 
Chr. 24:10. Luke 1:5. 

ABILENE, the name of a dis 
trict of country on the eastern de- 
clivity of Antilibanus, from twelve 
to twenty miles N. W. of Damas- 
cus, towards Heliopolis, or Baal- 
beck ; so called from the city Abi- 
la, and also called Abilene of Ly- 
sanias, to distinguish it from others. 
This territory had formerly been 
governed as a tetrarchate by a 
certain Lysanias, the son of Ptoie- 
my and grandson of Mennaus : 
afterwards it fell to Herod the 
Great. At Herod's death, a part 
of the territory was given to 
Philip ; but the greater part, with 
the city Abila, seems then, or 
shortly afterwards, to have been 
bestowed on another Lysanias. 
Luke 3:1. He is supposed to 
have been a descendant of the 
former Lvsanias. 

I. ABIMELECH, king of Ge- 
rar of the Philistines, who took 
Sarah into his harem; but being 
warned of God in a dream, he 
restored her to Abraham, and 
gave him 1CC0 pieces of silver as 
a " covering of the eyes" for 
Sarah, i. e. as an atoning present, 
and to be a testimony of her in- 
nocence in the eyes of all. Gen. 
c. 20. 

II. ABIMELECH, another 
king of Gerar, probably son of 
the former, and contemporary with 
Isaac. He rebuked Isaac for 
dissimulation in regard to Re- 
bekah ; and afterwards made a 
league with him at Beersheba 
Gen. 26:6—31. 

III. ABIMELECH, son of 
Gideon, by a concubine, made 
himself king of Shechem after his 
father's death, and slew his fa- 
ther's seventy sons on one stone, 
only Jotham, the youngest, being 
left. Jotham reproached the She- 



ABR 



[4] 



ABS 



chemites for Iheir conduct in his 
celebrated fable of the trees. 
Three years afterwards, they rose 
against Abimelech ; he defeated 
them, and destroyed their city, 
but as he was attacking- Thebez, 
a woman threw down a piece of 
a mill-stone on his head, which 
so injured him, that he called to 
his armor-bearer to slay him. 
Judg. c. 9 

ABNER, the son of Ner, Saul's 
uncle, and the general of his 
armies. 1 Sam. 14:51. Forseven 
years after Saul's death, he sup- 
ported Ishbosheth ; but, being ill 
used by him, he went over to j 
David. He was, however, treach- 
erously slain by Joab, either to 
revenge the death of Asahel, 
Joab's brother, whom Abner had 
formerly killed, or more probably 
from jealousy. David composed 
an elegy on his death. 2 Sam. 
2:8.^:39. 

ABOMINATION OF DES- 
OLATION, foretold by Daniel, 
9:27, denotes, probably, the 
image of Jupiter, erected in the 
temple of Jerusalem by com- 
mand of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
2 Mac. 6: 2. 1 Mac. 6: 7. But by 
the Abomination of Desolation 
spoken of by our Lord, Matt. 
24:15. Mark 13:14, and foretold 
as about to be seen at Jerusalem, 
during the last siege of that city 
by the Romans under Titus, is 
probably meant the Roman army, 
whose standards had the images 
of their gods and emperors upon 
them, and were lodged in the tem- 
ple when that and the city were 
taken. See Armor. 

ABRAM, afterwards called 
Abraham, the great progen- 
itor of the Jewish nation. He 
was born in Mesopotamia, and 
migrated as a nomade, or wan- 
dering shepherd, into Palestine, 
where he continued to dwell, re- 
moving from place to place, 



according to the convenience of 
water and pasturage, and jour- 
neying sometimes for the same 
reason as far as Egypt. His 
probity and his confidence in God 
were so conspicuous, that God 
prospered him greatly, and prom- 
ised him a seed " like the sand 
on the sea-shore," which should 
inhabit the land of Canaan. 
Hence this was called the 
" promised land." Abraham's 
faith and piety were so great, 
that when God directed him to 
offer his son Isaac in sacrifice, 
he did not hesitate to obey ; 
though the Lord interfered to pre- 
vent the accomplishment. God 
entered into covenant with him 
in respect to the pious of his pos- 
terity, and hence he is called the 
" father of the faithful," and they 
are called the " seed of Abra- 
ham." Rom. 4: 16. Gal. 3: 7. This 
history, which is full of beautiful 
examples of trust in God and res- 
ignation to his holy will, is given 
at length in Genesis 11:27.— 
25 : 10. His character and hospi- 
tality were those of a genuine ori- 
ental patriarch or sheikh. "Abra- 
ham," says Dr. Richardson, 
" was a Bedouin, i. e. an Ara- 
bian nomade ; and 1 never saw 
a fine, venerable looking sheikh 
busied among his flocks and 
herds, that it did not remind me 
of the patriarch himself." 

Abraham's Bosom. In Luke 
16:22, Lazarus is said to have 
been carried to Abraham's bo- 
som, i. e. to a state of bliss in 
paradise. This is often repre- 
sented by a feast, by sitting down 
to a banquet, <fcc. Matt. 8:11. 
Luke 13:29; and to be oi lie on 
one's bosom refers to the oriental 
mode of reclining at table. So, 
at supper, John leaned on Jesus' 
bosom. John 13:23. See Eat- 
ing, and Lazarus II. 

ABSALOM, son of David by 



A CC 



[5 J 



ACT 



Maacah, was the handsomest man I 
in Israel, and had the finest head 
of hair. 2 Sam. 14:25. When 
his hair was cut at a certain time, 
because it incommoded him, its 
weight was 200 shekels, by the 
kings standard ; that is, proba- 
bly, about 30 ounces ; an ex- 
traordinary, but not incredible, 
weight. He afterwards played 
the demagogue, " stole the hearts 
of the people," and got himself 
proclaimed king in Hebron. Da- 
vid retired from Jerusalem; Ab- 
salom followed him ; and in the 
battle which ensued, the troops 
of the latter were defeated, and 
he himself, being caught by his 
head of hair in a tree, his mule 
passed from under him and left 
him hanging there. Here he 
was found and slain by Joab. 
David was much affected by his 
death, and uttered bitter lamen- 
tations ov r er him. 2Sam. 13:1. — 
19:4. 

ACCHO, a city of the tribe of 
Asher. Judg. 1:31. IntheN.T. 
Accho is called Ptolemais, Acts 
21 :7, from one of the Ptolemies, 
who enlarged and beautified it. 
The crusaders gave it the name 
o<" Acre, or St. John of Acre. It is 
still called Akka by the Turks. 
It sustained several sieges during 
the crusades, and was the last 
fortified place wrested from the 
Christians by the Turks. 

The town is situated on the 
coast of the Mediterranean sea, 
on the north angle of a bay to 
which it gives its name, and 
which extends in a semicircle of 
three leagues, as far as the point 
of mount Carmel. Since the 
time of its memorable siege by 
Bonaparte, when he was re- 
pulsed by sir Sidney Smith, in 
1799, A echo has been much im- 
proved and strengthened. Its 
present population is estimated 
at from 18,000 to 20,000. 
1* 



Accho, and all beyond it north- 
wards, was considered as the 
heathen land of the Jews. 

ACELDAMA, {the field of 
blood,) a small field south of Je- 
rusalem, which the priasts pur- 
chased with the thirty pieces of 
silver that Judas had received as 
the price of our Saviour's blood. 
Matt. 27:8. Acts 1:19. Pretend- 
ing that it was not lawful to ap- 
propriate this money to sacred 
uses, because it was the price of 
blood, they purchased with it the 
so called potter's field, to be a 
burying-place for strangers. It 
is now used as the sepulchre of 
the Armenians, who have a mag- 
nificent convent on mount Zion. 
(See Miss. Herald, 1824, p. 66.) 

ACHAIA, taken in its largest 
sense, comprehended the whole 
region of Greece, or Hellas, now 
called Livadia. Acts 19:21. comp. 
20:2. Achaia Proper, however, 
was a province of Greece, of 
which Corinth was the capital ; 
and embraced the whole west- 
ern part of the Peloponnesus. 
See Greece. 

ACHAN, the son of Carmi, 
who disobeyed the strict charge 
of the Lord, and purloined some 
of the spoils of Jericho. This 
brought a curse and defeat upon 
the people. He was discovered 
by lot, and stoned with all his 
family. Josh. 6:18. 7:10, &o. 

ACTS of the APOSTLES, 
a canonical book of the New 
Testament, written by Luke, and 
containing a considerable part 
of the history of Peter and Paul. 
The narrative begins at the as- 
cension of our Saviour, and con- 
tinues to Paul's arrival at Rome, 
after his appeal to Caesar, with 
his residence of two years in that 
capital ; including about twenty- 
eight or thirty years. It does 
not give the full history of the 
church, but only that of Peter 



ADA 



16] 



ADA 



and Paul. It was probably writ- 
ten about A. D. 64 ; i. e. soon 
after the time at which the nar- 
ration terminates. The place 
where it was written is not 
known. 

In order to read the Acts of 
the Apostles with intelligence 
and profit, it is necessary to have 
a sufficient acquaintance with 
geography, with the manners of 
the times and people referred to, 
and with the leading historical 
events. The power of the Ro- 
mans, with the nature and names 
of the public officers they estab- 
lished, and the distinctions among 
them, must be understood; as 
well as the disposition and polit- 
ical opinions of the unconverted 
Jewish nation, which obtained 
too strongly among the Chris- 
tianized Hebrews. 

ADAM, the progenitor of our 
<ace, formed by the hand of God, 
and placed, in a state of happi- 
ness, in the garden of Eden. In 
what this state consisted, we 
cannot know, because God has 
not told us. We only know that 
Adam fell from it by sinning 
against God, and thus brought 
a curse upon himself and all his 
posterity. Gen. c. 3. 

The curse pronounced on man 
includes not only physical labor 
and toil, the barrenness of the 
earth, and its tendency to pro- 
duce shrubs and weeds, which 
retard his exertions, and render 
his toil more painful and difficult ; 
it includes not only the physical 
dissolution of the body, but also 
the exposure of the soul, the no- 
bler part, to " everlasting death." 
There is no where in Scripture 
any hint that the bodies, either of 
animals or of man, in the state 
before the fall, were not subject 
to dissolution, just as much as at 
present. Indeed , the whole phys- 
ical structure goes to indicate 



directly the contrary. The life 
of man and of animals, as at 
present constituted, is a constant 
succession of decay and renova- 
tion ; and, so far as physiology 
can draw any conclusion, this 
has ever been the case. We 
may therefore suppose, that the 
death denounced upon man was 
rather moral and spiritual death : 
in that very day, he should lose 
the image of his Maker, and be- 
come exposed to that eternal 
doom which has justly fallen upon 
all his race. Such is also the view 
of the apostle Paul ; who every 
where contrasts the death intro- 
duced into the world through 
Adam, with the life which is pro- 
cured for our race through Jesus 
Christ. Rom. 5 : 12, <fcc. But this 
life is only spiritual ; the death, 
then, in its highest sense, is also 
spiritual. So far, too, as the pen- 
alty is temporal and physical, no 
specific remedy is provided ; no 
man is or can be exempt from it ; 
and it depends not on his choice. 
But to remove the spiritual pun- 
ishment, Christ has died ; and he 
who will, may avoid the threat- 
ened death, and enter into life 
eternal. 

In a similar sense, Adam is 
said to have been made in the 
" image of God;" i.e. in his 
moral likeness ; which also was 
lost by the fall, and may be re- 
stored in Christ. 

ADAMANT, a name ancient- 
ly used for the diamond, the hard- 
est of all minerals. It is used for 
cutting or writing upon glass and 
other hard substances. Jer. 17:1. 
It is also employed figuratively. 
Ezek.3:9. Zech.7:12. Others 
suppose it to be the smiris, or 
emery. 

ADAR, the twelfth month of 
the Hebrew ecclesiastical year, 
and the sixth of the civil year. 
It nearly answers to our Febru- 



ADO 



[7] 



ADR 



ary, or rather a part of February 
and March. As the lunar year, 
which the Jews follow, is shorter 
than the solar year by eleven 
days, which, after three years, 
make about a month, they then 
insert a thirteenth month, which 
they call Ve-Adar, or a second 
Adar. See Month. 

ADDER, a species of serpent, 
more commonly called Viper, 
which see. 

ADONIRAM, a receiver of 
Solomon's tributes, and director 
of the 30,000 men sent to Leba- 
non to cut timber. 1 K. 5:14. 
The same person is also called 
Adoram, bv contraction, 2 Sam. 
20:24. 1 K. 12: IS; and also 
Hadoram. 2 Chr. 10:18. 

ADOPTION is an act by 
which a person takes a stranger 
into his family, acknowledges him 
for his child, and constitutes him 
heir of his estate. Adoption, 
strictly speaking - , was not in gen- j 
p'-a) use among the Hebrews; 
Ana Jacob's adoption of his two 
grandsons, Ephraim and Manas- 
seh, Gen. 48:5, was a kind of 
substitution, whereby he intended 
that these his grandsons should 
have each his lot in Israel, as if 
they had been his own sons : 
" Ephraim and Manasseh are 
mine; as Reuben and Simeon 
they shall be mine." As he gives 
no inheritance to their father, Jo- 
seph, the effect of this adoption 
extended only to their increase of 
inheritance ; that is, instead of 
one part, giving them (or Joseph, 
whom they represented) two 
parts. 

But Scripture affords instances 
of another kind of adoption, — 
that of a father having a daughter 
only, and adopting her children. 
Thus, 1 Chr. 2 : 21, Machir, grand- 
son of Joseph, called " father of 
Gilead," (that is, chief of that 
town,) gave his daughter to Hez- 



ron, " who took her ; and he was 
a son of sixty years, (sixty years 
of age,) and she bare him Segub ; 
and Segub begat Jair, who had 
twenty-three cities in the land of 
Gilead." Jair acquired a num- 
ber of other cities, which made 
up his possessions to threescore 
cities Josh. 13:30. IK. 4:13. 
However, as well he, as his pos- 
terity, instead of being reckoned 
to the family of Judah, as they 
ought to have been by their pa- 
ternal descent from Hezron, are 
reckoned as sojis of Machir, the 
father of Gilead. Nay, more, it 
appears, Num. 32:41, that this 
very Jair, who was, in fact, the 
son of Segub, the son of Hezron, 
the son of Judah, is expressly 
called " Jair, the son of Manas- 
seh," because his maternal great- 
grandfather was Machir, the son 
of Manasseh. — In like manner 
we read, that Mordecai adopted 
Esther, his niece ; he took her to 
himself to be a daughter. Esth. 
2:7. So the daughter of Pha- 
raoh adopted Moses; and he be- 
came her son. Ex. 2 : 10. So we 
read, Ruth 4: 17, that Naomi had 
a son ; a son is born to Naomi ; 
when, indeed, it was the son of 
Ruth, and only a distant relation, 
or, in fact, none at all, to Naomi, 
who was merely the wife of Eli- 
melech, to whom Boaz was kins- 
man. 

At the present day, adoption is 
not uncommon in the East, where 
it is made before a public otficer 
with legal forms. 

ADORAM, see Adoxiram. 

I. ADRAMMELECH, (mag- 
nificent king,) son of Sennache- 
rib, king of Assyria, Isa. 37:38. 
2 K. 19:37, who, upon returning 
to Nineveh, after his fatal expedi- 
tion against Hezekiah, was killed 
by his two sons, Adrammelech 
and Sharezer, who fled to the 
mountains of Armenia, B. C. 713. 



ADR 



[8] 



AGA 



II. ADRAMMELECH, one 

of the gods adored by die inhab- 
itants of Sepharvaim, who settled 
in Samaria, in the stead of those 
Israelites who were carried be- 
3 r ond the Euphrates. They made 
their children pass through fire 
in honor of this false deity, and 
of another called Anammdecli. 
2 K. 17:31. The general opin- 
ion is, that Adrammelech repre- 
sented the sun, and Anammelech 
the moon. At any rate, they 
seem to be personifications of 
seme of the heavenly bodies. 

ADRAMYTTIUM, a mari- 
time town of Mysia, in Asia 
Minor, opposite to the island of 
Lesbos. Acts 27:2. It is now 
caiied Adramyti. It appears that 
this city also celebrated the wor- 
ship of Castor and Pollux, men- 
tioned Acts 28:11. 

ADRIA, an ancient cit} T of It- 
aly, in the state of Venice. It 
gyve name to the Adriatic sea, 
or the sea of Adria. Acts 27: 27. 
]i appears from the narrative of 
Paul's voyage, that, although 
the name of Adria belonged in a 
proper sense only to the sea with- 
in the Adriatic gulf, it was given 
in a looser manner to a larger 
extent, including the Sicilian and 
Ionian sea, lying farther south. 
So Ptolemy and Strabo. 

ADRIEL, son of Barzillai, 
married Merab, daughter of Saul, 
who had been promised to David. 
1 Sam. 13:19. Adriel had five 
sons by her, who were delivered 
up to the Gibeonites, to be put to 
death before the Lord, to avenge 
the cruelty of Saul, their grand- 
father, against the Gibeonites. 
In 2 Sam. 21 :8, these are said to 
be the sons of Michal, whom she 
brought up for Adriel ; but either 
Michal had adopted the children 
of her sister Merab, who was 
perhaps dead ; or, possibly, both 
sisters may have borne the name 



Michal. Compare under Abi- 

ATHAR. 

A DULL AM, a city in the val- 
ley or plain of Judah. Josh. 
12:15. Rehoboam rebuilt and 
fortified it. 2Chr. 11:7. When 
David withdrew from Achish, 
king of Gath, he retired to the 
cave of Adullam. 1 Sam. 22: 1. 
2 Sam. 23: 13. 

ADULTERY is a criminal 
connection between persons who 
are engaged to keep themselves 
wholly to others ; and in this it 
differs from, and exceeds the 
guilt of fornication, which is the 
same intercourse between un- 
married persons. Fornication 
may be, in some sense, covered 
by a subsequent marriage of the 
parties 5 but adultery cannot be 
so healed. Hence God often 
compares himself to a husband 
jealous of his honor 5 and hence 
the forsaking of the true God is 
compared to fornication and 
adultery of the vilest kind. Jer. 
3:9. Ezek. 23:36, &c. 

By the law of Moses, both the 
man and the woman who had 
committed adultery were punish- 
ed with death. Lev. 20:10. A 
woman suspected of this crime, 
might, in order to clear herself, 
drink the water of jealousy, as 
prescribed in Num. 5: 14, &c. 

AGAG, a general name of the 
kings of the Amalekites 5 appar- 
ently like Pharaoh for the Egyp- 
tian kings. Num 24:7. 1 Sam. 
15:8. The last one mentioned 
in Scripture, was "hewed in 
pieces" by Samuel, before the 
Lord, because Saul had sinfully 
spared him and the flocks and 
herds, when ordered utterly to 
exterminate them. 1 Samuel, 
c. 15. 

AGATE, a precious stone, 
said to take its name from the 
river Achates in Sicily, where it 
was first found. Agates, which 



AHA 



[9] 



AIR 



are of several kinds, are likewise 
procured in Phrygia, in India, in 
various parts of Europe, and at 
the Cape of Good Hope. The 
agate was the second stone in 
the lh : rd row of the high-priest's 
breastplate. Ex. 28:19. 39:12. 

AGRIPPA, see Herod 3, 4. 

AHAB, the sixth king of Israel, 
i. e. cf the ten tribes, succeeded 
his father, Omri, B. C. 914, and 
reigned 22 years. He was dis- 
tinguished for his idolatry and 
his cruelties. 1 K. 16:29.— 
22:40. 

I. AHASUERUS, the father 
of Darius the Mede. Dan. 9:1. 
Of course, the name must here 
designate Astyages, the grand- 
father of Cyrus. See below, and 
Darius I 

II. AHASUERUS. the hus- 
band of Esther, was, most prob- 
ably, Xerxes. Commentators 
have been much divided, and 
have understood, under this 
name, almost all the Persian 
kings in succession. But the 
other kings of Persia are all men- 
tioned in Scripture by their own 
names, or at least definitely 
pointed out ; while Xerxes is 
not mentioned, unless under this 
name. Besides, recent researches 
show that the Hebrew word for 
Ahasuerus is readily formed from 
the Persian name of Xerxes — the 
name Xerxes being only a Greek 
corruption of the Persian. 

AHAZ, son of Jotham, and 
l_th king of Judah. H<; ascend- 
ed the throne at 20 years of age, 
and reigned 16 years. 2 K. 
16:1,2,20. B.C. 738. He was 
distinguished for his idolatry and 
contempt of the true God; and 
against him many of the prophe- 
• ies of Isaiah are directed. Isa. 
c. 7. 

I. AHAZIAH, son and suc- 
cessor of Ahab, king of Israel. 
1 K. 22:40,51. 2 K. c. 1. He 



reigned two years, alone and 
with his father, who associated 
him in the kingdom the year be- 
fore his death, B. C. 894. Aha- 
ziah imitated Ahab's impiety, 
and worshipped Baal and As- 
tarte, whose rites had been intro- 
duced into Israel by Jezebel, his 
mother. 

II. AHAZIAH, otherwise Je- 
hoahaz, or Azariah, king of 
Judah, son of Jehoram and Alh- 
aliah, succeeded his father B. C. 
881. 2 K. 8:25. 2 Chr. 22:2. 
He was twenty-two years of age 
when he ascended the throne, 
and reigned but one year at Je- 
rusalem. He followed the house 
of Ahab, to which he was allied 
bv his mother, and did evil. 

AHITHOPHEL, a native of 
Giloh, and a person who bore a 
conspicuous part, as a counsellor, 
in the war between Absalom and 
his father David. He was ori- 
ginally one of David's most inti- 
mate and valued friends, but 
upon the defection and rebellion 
of Absalom, he espoused the 
cause of that prince, and became 
one of Davids bitterest enemies. 
Being disappointed, that Absa- 
lom did not follow his advice, he 
hanged himself. 2 Sam. 15:12. 
— c. 17. Ahithophel seems to 
have been the grandfather of 
Bathsheba. 2 Sam. 23: 34, comp. 
with 11:3. 

AHOLAH, and AHOLIBAH, 
two fictitious or symbolical 
names, adopted by Ezekiel, 
23:4, to denote the two king- 
doms of Judah and Samaria 
They are represented as sisters, 
and of Egyptian extraction. Aho- 
lah stands for Samaria, and 
Aholibah for Jerusalem. 

AIR. The air, or atmosphere, 
surrounding the earth, is often 
denoted by the word heaven ; so 
the birds of the heaven — for the 
birds of the air. God rained fire 



ALE 



[10] 



ALE 



and brimstone on Sodom from 
heaven, that is, from the air. 
Ge.i. 19:2i. "'Let fire come 
dowa from heaven," that is, from 
the air. 2 K. 1 : 10. 

To 'boat the air," and to 
■"speak in the air," 1 Cor. 9:26. 
14:9, are modes of expression 
used in most languages, signify- 
ing' — to speak or act without 
judgment, or understanding, or 
to no purpose. " The powers of 
the air," Eph. 2:2, probably 
means devil-;, who exercise their 
powers principally in the air ; if 
it be not rather au accommoda- 
tion to the Jewish belief which 
was current in th)se days, that the 
air was the abode of evil spirits. 

ALABASTER, a genus of 
fossils, having the color of the 
human nail, nearly ailied to mar- 
bles, and, according to Pliny, 
found in the neighborhood of 
Thebes, in Egypt, and about 
Damascus, in Syria. This ma- 
terial being very generally used 
to fabricate vessels for holding 
unguents and perfumed liquids, 
many vessels were called alabas- 
ter, though made of a different 
substance, as gold, silver, glass, 
etc. In Matt. 25:6,7, we read 
that Jesus, being at table in 
Bethany, in the house of Simon 
the leper, a woman, Mary, sister 
of Lazarus, John 12:3, poured 
an alabaster box of precious 
ointment on his head. Mark 
says "she brake the box," signi- 
fying, probablj', that the seal 
upon the box, or upon the neck 
of the vase or bottle, which kept 
the perfume from evaporating, 
had never been removed, but 
was, on this occasion, first open- 
ed. See Spikenard. 

ALEXANDRIA, a celebrated 
city in Egypt, situated between 
the Mediterranean sea and the 
lake Mareotis. It was founded 
by Alexander the Great, B. C. 



332, and peopled by colonies of 
Greeks and Jews. Alexandria 
rose rapidly to a state ot pros- 
perity, becoming the centre of 
commercial intercourse between 
the East and the West, and in 
process of time was, both in point 
of magnitude and wealth, second 
only to Rome itself. The ancient 
city was about fifteen miles in 
circuit, peopled by 300,000 free 
citizens and as many slaves. 
From the gate of the sea ran one 
magnificent street, 2000 feet 
broad, through the entire length 
of the city, to the gate of Cano- 
pus, affording a view of the ship- 
ping in the port, whether north, 
in the Mediterranean, or south, in 
the noble basin of the Mareotic 
lake. Another street, of equal 
width, intersected this at right 
angles, in a square half a league 
in circumference. 

Upon the death of Alexander, 
whose body was deposited in 
this new city, Alexandria became 
the regal capita! of Egypt, under 
the Ptolemies, and rose to its 
highest splendor. During the 
reign of the three first princes of 
this name, its glory was at the 
highest. The most celebrated 
philosophers from the East, as 
well as from Greece and Rome, 
resorted thither for instruction ; 
and eminent men, in every de- 
partment of knowledge, were 
found within its walls. Ptolemy 
Soter, the first of that line of 
kings, formed the museum, the 
library of 700,000 volumes, and 
several other splendid works. 
At the death of Cleopatra, B. C. 
26, Alexandria passed into the 
hands of the Romans ; and, after 
having enjoyed the highest fame 
for upwards of a thousand years, 
it submitted to the arms of the 
caliph Omar, A. D. 646. 

The present Alexandria, or, 
according to the pronunciation of 



ALG 



[11] 



ALO 



tbe inhabitants, Skanderia, occu- 
pies only about tlie eighth part 
of the site of the ancient city. 
The splendid temples have been 
exchanged forwreLched mosques 
and miserable churches, and ihe 
magnificent palaces for mean and 
ill built dwellings. Tbe city, 
which was of old so celebrated 
for its commerce and navigation, 
is now merely the port of Cairo, 
a place where ships may touch, 
and where wares may be ex- 
changed. The modern city is 
built wit!) the ruins of the ancient. 
The streets a?e so narrow, that 
the inhabitants can fay mats of 
reeds from one roof to the oppo- 
site, to protect them from the 
scorching sun. The inhabitants 
consist of Turks., Arabs, Copts, 
Jews and Armenians. Many 
Europeans have counting-houses 
here, where the factors exchange 
European for oriental merchan- 
dise. 

The Greek or Alexandrine 
version of the Scriptures was 
made here by learned Jews, sev- 
enty-two in number; and hence 
it is called the Septuagint, or 
version of the Seventy. The 
Jews established themselves in 
great numbers in this city, very 
soon after it was founded. Jose- 
phus says that Alexander him- 
self assigned to them a particular 
quarter of the city, and allowed 
them equal rights and privileges 
with the Greeks. Pliilo. who 
himself lived there in the time of 
Christ, affirms that, of five parts 
of the city, the Jews inhabited 
two. According to his state- 
ments, also, there dwelt in his 
time, in Alexandria and the other 
Egyptian cities, not less than ten 
hundred thcrtisnrid Jews. This, 
however, would seem exa<r°rer- 
ated. 

ALGUM, the same asAuiuG, 
which see. 



ALLEGORY, a figurative 
mode of discourse, which em- 
ploys terms literally belonging to» 
one thing, in order to express 
another. It is, strictly, a pro- 
longed metaphor. Such are Ps. 
80. Gal. 4:24— 31, &c. 

ALLELUIA, see Hallelu 
jah. 

ALMOND-TREE. This tree 
resembles a peach-tree, but is 
larger. In Palestine, it blossoms 
in January, and in March has 
fruit. Its blossoms are white. 
Its Hebrew name- signifies a 
watcher; and to this there is a» 
allusion in Jer. 1:11. 

ALMUG, a kind of tree os 
wood, which Hiram brought from 
Ophir. 1 K. 10:11. 2Chr.2:8. 
The rabbins call it coral; but it 
could not be this. It was, more 
probably, the tree which furnishes 
what is now commonly called 
Bra-zdwood, which is also a na- 
tive of the East Indies, Siam, the 
Molucca island's and Japan, and 
has several species. Its wood is 
very durable, and is used in fine 
cabinet work. It yields also a dye 
of a beautiful red color, for which 
I it is much used. Its resemblance 
in, color to coral may have given 
occasion for the name almug, 
which, in rabbinic, still signifies 
corul ; and then the meaning of 
the name would be roral-ivood. 

ALOES, or, mere properly,. 
Aloe, an East Indian tree, that 
grows about ei^ht or ten feet 
high. This tree or wood was 
called by the Greeks ao-aUnchon, 
and has been known to moderns 
by the names of lion-aloe, aloe- 
wood, parodist-wood, eas'le- 
ipood', etc. Modern botanists 
distinguish two kinds - , the one 
genuine and most precious, the 
other more common and inferior. 
The former grows in Oochin- 
China, Siain and China, is never 
exported, and is of so great rarity 



ALT 



L 12 J 



ALT 



in India itself, as to be worth 
its weight in gold. Pieces of 
this wood that are resinous, of a 
dark color, heavy, and perforated 
as if by worms, are called calam- 
bac. The tree itself is repre- 
sented as large, with an erect 
trunk and lofty branches. The 
other or more common species is 
called garo, in the East Indies, 
and is the wood of a tree grow- 
ing in the Moluccas, the excceca- 
ria agallocha of Linnaeus. The 
leaves are like those of a pear- 
tree ; and it has a milky juice, 
which, as the tree grows old, 
hardens into a fragrant resin. 
The trunk is knotty, crooked, and 
usually hollow. Aloe-wood is 
said by Herodotus to have been 
used by the Egyptians for em- 
balming dead bodies ; and Nico- 
demus brought it, mingled with 
myrrh, to embalm the body of 
our Lord. John 19:39. This 
perfume, it will be seen, is some- 
thing altogether different from 
the aloes of the apothecaries, 
which is a bitter resin, extracted 
from a low herb. 

ALPHA, see the letter A. 

ALPHEUS, father of James 
the less, Matt. 10:3. Luke6:15, 
and husband of the Mary who 
was sister to the mother of Christ, 



John 19: 



for which reason 



James is called the Lord's broth- 
er. By comparing John 19:25 
with Luke 24: 10 and Matt. 10:3, 
il is evident that Alpheus is the 
same as Cleophas ; Alpheus be- 
ing his Greek name, and Cleo- 
fhas h ; s Hebrew or Syriac name. 
See Cleophas. 

ALTAR, an elevated place, 
on which sacrifices were offered, 
built of various materials, usually 
of stone, but sometimes of brass, 
&c. The altars in the Jewish 
tabernacle, and in the temple at 
Jerusalem, were the following: 
1. The altar of Burnt-offerings. 



2. The altar of Incense. 3 The 
table of Shew Bread, for which 
see Bread. 

1. The Altar of Burnt-offer- 
ings was a kind of coffer of 
shittim-wood, covered with brass 
plates, five cubits square and 
three in height. At the four cor- 
ners were four horns, or eleva- 
tions. It was portable, and had 
rings and staves for bearing it. 
Ex. c. 27. c. 38. It was placed 
in the court before the tabernacle, 
towards the east. The altar in 
Solomon's temple was larger, 
being twenty cubits square and 
ten cubits high. 2 Chr. 4:1. It 
is said to have been covered with 
thick plates of brass and filled 
with stones, with an ascent on 
the east side. The two engrav- 
ings, on the opposite page, give a 
general view of these altars. 

2. Tlie Altar of Incense was a 
small table of shittim-wood, cov 
ered with plates of gold, of one cu- 
bit in length, another in width, ana 
two in height. Ex. c. 30. 37:25, 
&c. At the four corners were 
four horns, and all around a little 
border or crown over it. On 
each side were two rings, into 
which staves might be inserted 
for the purpose of carrying it. 
It stood in the holy place ; not in 
the hol} f of holies, but before it 5 
and the priests burned incense 
upon it every morning and even- 
ing. SoZacharias. Luke 1:9,11. 

Altar at A thens, inscribed to 
the unknown God. Acts 17-23. 
Commentators have differed 
much about this altar, without 
arriving at any definite conclu- 
sion. So much, at least, is cer- 
tain, both from Paul's assertion 
and the testimony of Greek pro- 
fane writers, that altars to an un- 
known god or gods existed at 
Athens. But the attempt to as- 
certain definitely whom the Athe- 
nians worshipped under this ap- 



[13] 
ALTARS OF BURNT-OFFERINGS. 



The Altar as said to be constructed for Solomon's Temple. 




The Altar as constructed for the Temple built by Herod the Great. 




AM A 



[ 14] 



A M E 



pellation, must ever reaia.ii 
fruitless for want of sufficient 
data. The inscription afforded 
to Paul a happy occasion of pro- 
claiming- the gospel ; and tlmse 
who embraced it found indeed, 
that the Being whom they had 
thus "ignorantly worshipped/' 
was the one only living and true 
God. 

AMALEKITES, a powerful 
people, who dwelt in Arabia Pe- 
traea, between the Dead sea and 
the Red sea, perhaps in moving 
troops. We cannot assign the 
place of their habitation, except 
in general it is apparent that they 
dwelt south of Palestine, between 
mount Seir and the border of 
Egypt ; and it does not appear 
that they possessed cities, though 
one is mentioned in 1 Sam. 15:5. 
They lived generally in migrat- 
ing parties, in caves or in tents, 
like the Bedouin Arabs of the 
present day. The Israelites had 
scarcely passed the Red sea, 
when the Amalekites attacked 
them in the desert of Rephidim, 
and slew those who, through fa- 
tigue or weakness, lagged behind. 
Ex. 17:8. Joshua defeated 
them ; and, after -100 years, Saul 
attacked and destroyed them, at 
the command of the Lord. 1 Sam. 
c 15. A small remnant seems 
to have escaped ami subsisted 
afterwards, which was destroy- 
ed by the children of Simeon. 1 
Chr. 4:43. 

AMASA, David's nephew, 
was the general of Absalom's 
troops, and was defeated by 
Joab. 2 Sam. 17:25. c. 18. David 
afterwards offered him a pardon, 
and the command of his troops, 
in the place of Joab ; but Joab 
murdered him. 2 Sam. 19:L3. 
20:4—10. 

AMAZIAH, eighth king of 
Judah, son of Joash, began to 
reign B. C. 835, and reigned 



I twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. 

j He did good in the sight of the 

Lord, but not with a perfect 

heart. 2 K. 14:1—20. 2 Chr. 

c. 25. 

AMBER is a yellow or straw- 
colored gummy substance, ori- 
ginally a vegetable production, 
but reckoned to the mineral king- 
dom. It is found in lumps in the 
sea arid on the shores of Prussia, 
Sicily, Turkey, &c. Externally 
it is rough ; it is very transparent, 
and, on being rubbed, yields a 
fragrant odor, it was formerly 
supposed to be medicinal ; but 
is now employed in the manu- 
facture of trinkets, ornaments, 
&c. 

The Hebrew word is translated 
by the Septuagint and Vulgate 
electrum, i. e. amber, because the 
Hebrew denotes a very brilliant 
metal, composed of silver and 
gold, which was, much prized in 
antiquity. Ezek. 1:4.27. 8:2. 
Others, as Bochart, compare here 
the mixture of gold and brass, of 
which the ancients had several 
kinds; by which means a high 
degree of lustre was obtained. 
Something similar to this was 
probably also the fine brass, in 
Rev. 1 : 15. 

AMEN is strictly an adjective, 
sigaifyinsfirm, and metaph. faith- 
ful. So in Rev. 3:14, our Lord 
is called " the Amen, the faithful 
and true Witness ;" where the 
last words explain the preceding 
appellation. In its adverbial use 
it means certainly, truly, surely. 
It is used at the beginning of a 
sentence by way of emphasis, 
frequently by our Saviour, where 
it is commonly translated Verily. 
In John's Gospel alone, it is often 
used by him in this way double, 
i. e. Verily, verily. In the end 
of a sentence it is often used, 
singly or repeated, especially at 
the end of hymns and prayers j 



A MM 



[ 15] 



AMO 



as Amen and Amen. Ps. 41 : 13. 
72:19. 89:52. The proper sig- 
nification of it here is, to confirm 
the words which have preceded, 
and invoke the fulfilment of them ; 
so be it, let it be done. Hence, in 
oaths, after the priest has repeat- 
ed the words of the covenant or 
imprecation, all those who pro- 
nounce the Amen, bind them- 
selves by the oath. Num. 5:22. 
Deut. 27:15, &c. Neh. 5:13. 
8:6. 1 Chr. 16:36. Comp. Ps. 
106:48. 

AMETHYST, a precious 
stone of a violet blue color, verg- 
ing towards a bluish or reddish 
white. It is seldom uniform in 
color, and is generally cloudy 
and spotted with ziz-zag stripes. 
The most beautiful specimens 
come from Ceylon, the East In- 
dies, Siberia and Saxony. It is 
very highly prized. Ex. 28 : 19. 
Rev. 21:20. 

AMMON, or No-Ammon, or 
No, a city of Egypt. The name 
of the city is properly No-Am- 
mon, i. e. the seat or dwelling of 
the god Amnion. Nah. 3:8. in the 
Hebrew. In Ez. 30 : 14,15,16, it 
is called simply No; and in Nah. 
3:8, and J er. 46:25, the English 
version has also only No. In 
the latter passage, instead of 
" the multitude of No," it should 
be " Amnion of No." The name 
designates, beyond all reasonable 
doubt, the city of Thebes, the 
ancient and renowned capital of 
Upper Egypt, called also Dios- 
polis by the Greeks, and the 
chief seat of the worship of Jupi- 
ter Ammon. The vast ruins of 
the temples of Luxor and Carnac 
still proclaim the grandeur and 
magnificence with which this wor- 
ship was conducted. The ruins 
of the ancient city of Thebes are 
the wonder and delight of all 
modern travellers, for their ex- 
tent, their vastness, and their sad 



and solitary grandeur. (See the 
Miss. Herald, 1823, p. 347.) 

AMMONITES, the descend- 
ants of Ammon, or Ben-Ammi, 
a son of Lot. They destioyed 
an ancient race of giants called 
Zamzummim, and seized their 
country, which la}' south-east of 
Judea. Deut. 2:19— 21. Their 
territory extended from the Ar- 
non to the Jabbok, and from the 
Jordan a considerable distance 
into Arabia. Their capital city 
was Rabbah, (also Rabbath 
Ammon, and afterwards Phila- 
delphia,) which stood on the 
Jabbok. They were gross idol- 
aters j their chief idol being Mo- 
loch, supposed to be the same 
with Saturn. They oppressed Is- 
rael in the time of Jephthah, and 
were defeated by him with great 
slaughter. Judg. c. 11. They 
afterwards, at various times, 
troubled the Israelites, and were, 
at last, totally subdued by Judas 
Maccabeus. 1 Mace. 5:6 — 44. 

AMON, the fourteenth king of 
Judah, son of Manasseh, began 
to reign B. C. 639, at the age of 
twenty-two, and reigned only 
two years at Jerusalem. He did 
evil in the sight of the Lord, as 
his father Manasseh had done, 
by forsaking Jehovah and wor- 
shipping idols. His servants 
conspired against him, and slew 
him in his own house ; but the 
people killed all the conspirators, 
and established his son Josiah on 
the throne. He was buried in 
the garden of Uzzah. 2 K. 21: 19, 
&cc. 2 Chr. 33:21, &c. 

AMORITES, a people de- 
scended from the fourth sen of 
Canaan. Gen. 10:16. They first 
peopled the mo intains west of 
the Dead sea, near Hebron ; but 
afterwards extended their limits, 
and took possession of the finest 
provinces of Moab and Ammon, 
oji the east, between the brooks 



ANA 



[16] 



ANA 



Jabbok and Anion. Josh. 5:1. 
Num. 13:29. 21:29. Moses took 
this country from their king-, Si- 
hon. The lands which the Am- 
orites possessed on this side 
Jordan, were given to the tribe 
of Judah, and those beyond the 
Jordan to the tribes of Reuben 
and Gad. The name Amorite 
is often taken in Scripture for 
Canaanite in general. Gen. 
15:16. See Canaanites. 

AMOS, the fourth of the minor 
prophets, was a herdsman of 
Tekoah, a small town of Judah, 
about twelve miles south-east of 
Jerusalem. He prophesied, how- 
ever concerning Israel, at Bethel 
under Jeroboam II, about B. C. 
770. In regard to style, Amos 
takes a high rank among the 
prophets. He is full of fancy 
and imagery, concise, and yet 
simple and perspicuous. His 
language is occasionally harsh. 
His prophecies are arranged in 
a certain order ; so that we may 
suppose that, after having uttered 
them, he had carefully written 
them out. 

AMPHIPOLIS, a city of 
Macedonia, situated not far from 
the mouth of the river Strymon, 
which flowed around the city, and 
thus occasioned its name. The 
village which now stands upon 
the site of the ancient city, is 
called Emvoii or Yamboli, a cor- 
ruption of Amphipolis. Acts 
17:1. 

ANAH, the father of Aholi- 
bamah, one of Esau's wives. 
While feeding his father's asses 
in the desert, he is said to have 
found the "mules." Gen. 36:24. 
But the Hebrew word means 
rather '* warm springs ;" and 
such springs are found on the 
eastern coast of the Dead sea, 
which was not far from the dwell- 
ing of the Seirites, to whom Anah 
belonged, and who inhabited, at 



that time, the country to the south 
of that sea. Five or six miles 
south-east of the Dead sea, and, 
consequent^', in or near the same 
region in which the Seirites, and 
afterwards the Edomites, dwelt, 
is a place celebrated among the 
Greeks and Romans for its warm 
baths, and called by them Cal- 
lirho?. 

ANAK, plural Anakims, fa- 
mous giants in Palestine. Num. 
13:33. Josh. 11:22. 15:13,14. 
ANAMMELECH, see A- 

DRAMMELECH II. 

ANANIAS. Three persons of 
this name are mentioned in the 
N. T. 

1. A Jew of Jerusalem, the 
husband of Sapphira, who at- 
tempted to join the Christians, 
but died instantly on being- con- 
victed of falsehood by Peter. 
Acts 5:1,3,5. 

2. A Christian of Damascus 
who restored the sight of Paul, 
after his vision. Acts 9 : 10 — 17. 
22:12. 

3. A high-priest of the Jews, 
the son of Nebedaeus. He was 
sent as a prisoner to Rome, by 
Quadratus, the governor of Syria, 
and Jonathan was appointed in 
his place ; but, be ; ng discharged 
by the emperor Claudius, he re- 
turned to Palestine, and Jona- 
than being murdered throng-h the 
treachery of Felix, Ananias ap- 
pears to have performed the func- 
tions of the high-priest as a substi- 
tute, until Ismael was appointed 
by Agrippa. Acts 23: 2. 24:1. 

ANATHEMA, i. e. a curse, a 
ban, signifies properly something 
set apart, separated, devoted. It 
is understood principally to de- 
note the absolute, irrevocable 
and entire separation of a person 
from the communion of the faith- 
ful, or from the number of the 
living, or from the privileges of 
society 5 or the devoting of any 



ANG 



[ 17] 



ANN 



man, animal, city or thing-, to be 
extirpated, destroyed, consumed 
and, as it were, annihilated. So 
Jericho, Josh. 6 : 17 — 21 j and 
hence Achan became also ac- 
cursed, c. 7. 

Another kind of anathema, 
very peculiarly expressed, occurs 
1 Cor. 16:22 : " If any man love 
not the Lord Jesus Christ, let ! 
him be Anathema ! Maranatiia 
This last word is made up of two I 
Syriac words, signifying, " The 
Lord cometh ;" i. e. the Lord 
will surely come, and will execute 
this curse, by condemning those 
who love him not. At the same 
time, the opposite is also implied, 
i. e. the Lord cometh also to re- 
ward those who love him. 

Excommunication was also a 
kind of anathema used among 
the Hebrews, as it is now among 
Christians. Anathema was the 
greatest degree of excommunica- 
tion ; and by it the criminal was 
deprived, not only of communi- 
cating in prayers and other holy 
offices, but of admittance to the 
church, and of conversation with 
believers. Excommunicated per- 
sons could not perform any pub- 
lic duty; they could not be 
present at funerals, nor circum- 
cise their own sons, nor sit down 
in the company of others, nearer 
than four cubits. See EXCOM- 
MUNICATION. 

ANDREW, one of the twelve 
apostles, was of Bethsaida, and 
the brother of Peter. John 1:40, 
44. Nothing further is known of 
his hist or v. 

ANGEL. The original word, 
both in Hebrew and Greek, 
means messenger, and is so trans- 
lated Matt. 11 : 10. Luke 7:24, 
&c. In Gal. 4:14, the word 
angel stands in the same sense. 
In 1 Cor. 11:10, it seems to 

Lmean spies, on account of whom 
the women should have veils 
2* 



(power) on their heads. (See 
under Veil.) But most gener- 
ally in the Bible, the word is 
applied to a race of intelligent 
beings, of a higher order than 
man, who surround the Deity, 
and whom he employs as his 
messengers, or agents, in admin- 
istering the affairs of the world, 
and in promoting the welfare of in- 
dividuals, as well as of the whole 
human race. Matt. 1:20. 22:30. 
Acts 7:30, &c. Some of these, 
•■ who kept not their first estate," 
but fell and rebelled against God, 
are called the angels of Satan or 
the devil. Matt. 25:41. Rev. 
12:9. These are represented as 
being " cast down to hell, and 
reserved unto judgment." 2 Pet. 
2:4. Under the general sense of 
messenger, the term angel is prop- 
erly applied also to Christ, as the 
great angel or messenger of the 
covenant, Mai. 3:1, and to the 
ministers of his gospel, the over- 
seers or angels of the churches. 
Rev. 2:1,8,12, &c. See Syna- 
gogue. See also in Arch- 
ax gel. 

ANGER is in Scripture fre- 
quently attributed to God ; not 
that he is capable of those violent 
emotions which this passion pro- 
duces ; but figuratively speaking, 
i. e. after the manner of men ; 
and because he punishes the 
wicked with the severity of a 
superior provoked to anger. 

ANISE, a well-known plant, 
resembling dill, carraway, &c. 
but more fragrant. The seeds 
are kept by apothecaries. Matt. 
23:23. 

ANNAS, a high-priest of the 
Jews. Luke 3:2. John 18:13,24. 
Acts 4:6. He is mentioned in 
Luke as being high-priest along 
with Caiaphas, his son-in-law. 
He was first appointed to that 
office by Cyrenius, or Quirinus, 
proconsul of Syria, about A. D. 



ANT 



[13] 



APO 



7 or 8, but was afterwards 
deprived of it. After various 
changes, the oiLce was given lo 
Joseph, also called caiaphas, 
the son-in-law of Annas, about 
A. D. 27 or 28, who continued in 
office until A. D. 35. In the 
passages of the N. T. above 
cited, therefore, it is apparent that 
Caiaphas was the only actual 
and proper high-priest ; but An- 
nas, being his father-in-law, and 
having been formerly himself 
high-priest, and being also, per- 
haps, his substitute, had great 
influence and authority, and could 
with propriety be still termed 
high-priest along with Caiaphas. 

ANOINTING was a custom 
in frequent use among the He- 
brews, and other oriental na- 
tions. They anointed the hair, 
head and beard. Psalm 133:2. 
At their feasts and rejoicings 
they anointed the whole body ; 
but sometimes onlv the head or 
the feet. John 12:3. Luke 7:37. 
Matt. 6:17. The anointing of 
dead bodies was also practised, 
to preserve them from corrup- 
tion. Mark 14:8. 16:1. Luke 
23:56. They anointed kings 
and high-priests at their inaugu- 
ration, Exod. 29:7.29. Lev. 
4:3. Judg. 9:8. 1 Sam. 9:16. 
1 Kings 19:15,16, as also the 
sacred vessels of the tabernacle 
and temple. Exod. 30:26, <fcc. 

The custom of anointing with 
oil or perfume was also common 
among the Greeks and Romans ; 
especially the anointing of guests 
at feasts and other entertainments. 

ANTELOPE, see under Roe. 

ANTICHRIST strictly means 
one opposed to Christ. In this 
sense, John says there were al- 
ready in his time many Anti- 
christs 5 meaning heretics and 
persecutors. 1 John 2:18. But 
the apostles and early Christians 
seem to have looked forward to 



some one great Antichrist, who 
should precede the second com- 
ing of our Lord, and whom Paul 
cails " the man of sin, the son of 
perdition." 2 Thess. 2:3. To 
this passage John alludes, 1 John 
2:185 and there has been a great 
deal of Iruitless speculation on 
the subject. 

ANTIOCH, the name of two 
cities mentioned in the N. T. 
The first was situated on the riv- 
er Orontes, and was the metrop- 
olis of all Syria. It was founded 
by Seleucus Nicanor, and called 
by him after the name of his 
father Antiochus. This city is 
celebrated by Cicero, as being 
opulent and abounding in men of 
taste and letters. It was also a 
place of great resort for the 
Jews, and afterwards for Chris- 
tians, to all of whom invitations 
and encouragements were held 
out by Seleucus Nicanor. The 
distinctive name of Christians 
was here first applied to the fol- 
lowers of Jesus. Acts 1 1 : 19.26. 
13:1. Gal. 2:11. It is now 
called Antakia. 

The other city was called 
Antioch of Pisidia, because it 
was attached to that province, 
although situated in Phrygia. It 
was founded by Seleucus Ni- 
canor. Acts 13:14. 14:19,21. 
2 Tim. 3:11. 

ANTIPATRIS, the name of a 
city of Palestine, situated two or 
three miles distant from the coast, 
in a fertile and well watered 
plain between Cesarea and Je- 
rusalem, on the site of a former 
city, Cafar-Saba. It was founded 
by Herod the Great, and called 
Antipatris in honor of his father, 
Antipater. Acts 23:31. 

APOCAL1PSE signifies rev- 
elation, but is particularly re- 
ferred to the revelations which 
John had in the isle of Patmos, 
whither he was banished by Do- 



APO 



[ 19 ] 



APO 



mitian. Her.ce it is another name 
for the book of Revelation. 
This book belongs, in its charac- 
ter, to the prophetical writing's, 
and stands in intimate relation 
with the prophecies of the O. T. 
and more especially with the 
writings of the later prophets, as 
Ezekiel, Zechariah, and particu- 
larly Daniel ; inasmuch as it is 
almost entirely symbolical. This 
circumstance has surrounded the 
interpretaiion of this book with 
difficulties, which no interpreter 
has yet been able fully to over- 
come. Most of these are con- 
nected with the questions as to 
the author, and the time when the 
book was composed. As to the 
author, the weight of testimony 
throughout all the history of the 
church, is in favor of John, the 
beloved apostle. As to the time 
of its composition j some sup- 
pose it to have been written after 
the destruction of Jerusalem, 
about A. D. 96 ; while others, 
with more reason, regard it as 
having been composed before the 
destruction of that city, and as 
thus foretelling the downfall of 
Judaism and heathenism, i. e. 
Jerusalem and Rome, and the 
triumphs of Christianity, i. e. the 
New Jerusalem. 

APOCRYPHA signifies, prop- 
erly, hidden, concealed '; and, as 
applied to books, it means those 
which have not been publicly ad- 
mitted into the canon. These 
are of two classes, viz. 

1. Those which were in exist- 
ence in the time of Christ, but 
were not admitted by the Jews 
into the canon of the O. T. 
either because they had no He- 
brew original, or because they 
were regarded as not divinely in- 
spired. The most important of 
these are collected in the Apoc- 
rypha often appended to the 
English Bible j but in the Septu- 



agint and Vulgate, they stand as 
canonical. 

2. Those which were written 
after the time of Christ, but were 
not admitted by the churches 
into the canon of the N. T. 
as not being divinely inspired. 
These are mostly of a legendary 
character. They have all been 
collected by Fabricius in his 
Codex Apoc. N. T. 

APOLLONIA, a city of 
Macedonia, situated between 
Amphipolis and Thessalonica, 
about a day's journey from the 
former place. Acts 17:1. 

APOLLOS, a Jewish Chris- 
tian, born at Alexandria, distin- 
guished for his eloquence and suc- 
cess in propagating the Christian 
religion. His history and char- 
acter are given Acts 18:24, «fec. 

APOLLYON, see Abaddon. 

APOSTLE, a messenger, or 
envoy. The term is applied to 
Jesus Christ, who was God's en- 
voy to save the world, Heb. 3- 
1, though, more commonly, the 
title is given to persons who were 
envoys, commissioned by him. 

The apostles of Jesus Christ 
were his chief disciples, whom 
he invested with his authority, 
filled with his Spirit, intrusted 
particularly with his doctrines 
and services, and chose to raise 
the edifice of his church. After 
his resurrection, he sent his apos- 
tles into all the world, commis- 
sioned to preach, to baptize, to 
work miracles, <fec. The names 
of the twelve are, — 

1. Peter 9. Simon 

2. Andrew 10. Jude (Leb- 

3. John beus,Thad- 

4. Philip deus) 

5. James Major 11. James Mi- 
fi. Bartholomew nor 

7. Thomas 12. Judas Isca- 

8. Matthew riot. 
(Levi) 



ARA 



[20] 



ARA 



The last betrayed his Master; 
and, having hanged himself, Mat- 
thias was chosen in his place, 
Acts 1 : 15—26. 

APPI1 FORUM, a city or 
market town, founded by Appius 
Claudius, on the great road ( Via 
Appii) which he constructed 
from Rome to Capua. It is most 
probably to be found in the pres- 
ent Casarillo di Santa Maria, 
situated 56 miles from Rome, in 
the borders of the Pontine marsh- 
es, where are the remains of an 
ancient city. The Three Tav- 
erns were about eight or ten 
miles nearer Rome. Acts 28 : 15. 

APPLE-TREES are men- 
tioned Cant. 2:3. 8:5. Joel 
1 : 12. Many suppose the citron, 
or lemon-tree, to be here meant. 

AQ.UILA, a Jew born in 
Pontus, a tent-maker by occu- 
pation, who, with his wife Pris- 
cilla, joined the Christian church 
at Rome. When the Jews were 
banished from that city by the 
emperor Claudius, Aquila and 
his wife retired to Corinth, and 
afterwards became the compan- 
ions of Paul in his labors, by 
whom they are mentioned with 
much commendation. Acts 18:2, 
&e. Rom. 16:3. 1 Cor. 16:19. 
2 Tim. 4:19. 

ARABIA is a country of 
Western Asia, lying south and 
south-east of Judea. It extends 
1500 miles from north to south, 
and 1200 from east to west. On 
the north it is bounded by part 
of Syria, on the east by the Per- 
sian gulf and the Euphrates, on 
the south by the Arabian sea and 
the straits of Babelmandel, and 
on the west by the Red sea, &c. 
Arabia is distinguished by geog- 
raphers into three parts — Arabia 
Deserta, Petraea, and Felix. 

Arabia Deserta has the moun- 
tains of Gilead west, and the 
nver Euphrates east ; it compre- 



hends the country of the Iture* 
ans, the Edomites, the Nabathae- 
ans, the people of Kedar, and 
others, who led a wandering life, 
having no cities, houses or fixed 
habitations, but wholly dwelling 
in tents ; in modern Arabic, such 
are called Bedouins. When 
Paul says he " went into Ara- 
bia and returned again to Da- 
mascus," he means, doubtless, the 
northern part of Arabia Deserta, 
which lay adjacent to the terri- 
tories of Damascus. Gal. 1:17. 

Arabia Petrcca lies south of 
the Holy Land, and had Petra 
for its capital. (SeeSELA.) This 
region contained the southern 
Edomites, the Amalekites, the 
Hivites, &c. people at present 
known under the general name 
of Arabians. In this country 
was Kadesh-barnea,Gerar,Beer- 
sheba, Paran, Arad, Hasmona, 
Oboth, Dedan, &c. also the pe- 
ninsula of mount Sinai. 

Arabia Felix lies still farther 
south, being bounded east by 
the Persian gulf, south by the 
ocean between Africa and India, 
and west by the Red sea. As 
this region did not immediately 
adjoin the Holy Land, it is not 
so frequently mentioned as the 
former ones. The queen of 
Sheba, who visited Solomon, 
1 K. 10:1, was probably queen 
of part of Arabia Felix. This 
country abounded with riches, 
and particularly with spices ; and 
is now called Hedjaz. It is 
much celebrated in modern 
times, by reason of the cities of 
Mecca and Medina being situ- 
ated in it. 

There are two races of Arabs ; 
those who derive their descent 
from the primitive inhabitants of 
the land, and those who claim 
Ishmael as their ancestor. They 
are all divided up into different 
tribes j the Arabs are also di- 



ARA 



[21 ] 



ARC 



vided into those who dwell in 
cities, and those who live in the 
fields and deserts. The latter 
are migratory, dwelling in tents, 
and removing according to the 
convenience of water and pas- 
turage, and are often robbers. 
Each tribe is divided up into 
little communities, of which a 
sheikh or patriarch is the head. 
Such are the Bedouins. 

ARARAT, the name of a 
province of Armenia, and some- 
times used to denote, the whole 
country. Jer. 51:27. On the 
mountains of Ararat, the ark 
rested. Gen. 8:4. In 1831, 
Messrs. Smith and Dwight, 
American missionaries, visited 
Armenia, and traversed the prov- 
ince of Ararat. Mr. Smith de- 
scribes the mountains as follows : 

" We passed very near the 
base of that noble mountain, 
which is called by the Armeni- 
ans Masis, and by Europeans 
generally Ararat; and for more 
than twenty days had it constant- 
ly in sight, except when obscured 
by clouds. It consists of two 
peaks, one considerably higher 
than the other, and is connected 
with a chain of mountains run- 
ning off to the north-west and 
west, which, though high, are not 
of sufficient elevation to detract 
at all from the lonely dignity of 
this stupendous mass. From 
Nakhchewan.at the distance of at 
least 100 miles to the south-east, 
it appeared like an immense 
isolated cone, of extreme regu- 
larity, rising out of the valley of 
the Araxes. Its height is said 
to be 16,000 feet. The eternal 
snows upon its summit occasion- 
ally form vast avalanches, which 
precipitate themselves down its 
sides with a sound not unlike that 
of an earthquake. When we 
saw it, it was white to its very 
base with snow. And certainly 



net among the mountains of Ar- 
arat or of Armenia generally, 
nor those of any part of the 
world where I have been, have 
I ever seen one whose majes 
ty could plead half so pow 
erfully its claims to the honor 
of having once been the step- 
ping-stcne between the old world 
and the new. I gave myself ud 
to the feeling, that on its summi 
were once congregated all the 
inhabitants of the earth, and that, 
while in the valley of the Arax- 
es, I was paying a visit to the 
second cradle of the human 
race.*' 

ARAUNAH. a Jebusite. 2 
Sam. 24:18. In 1 Chr. 21:18, 
he is called Ornan. 

ARBA, the ancient name of 
Hebron, which see. 

ARCHANGEL, one of the 
seven principal angels who sur- 
round the throne of God. 1 Thess. 
4:16. Compare Rev. 8:2.— In 
Matt. 26:53. 2 Thess. 1 :7, &c. 
hosts of angels are spoken of, 
in the same manner as human 
armies. These the Deity is said 
to employ in executing his com- 
mands, or in displaying his dig- 
nity and majesty, in the manner 
of human princes. These ar- 
mies of angels are also represent- 
ed as divided into orders and 
classes, having each its leader; 
and all these are subject to one 
chief, or archangel. Dan. 10 : 13. 
The archangels are seven in 
number, Rev. 8:2, of whom the 
names of three are found in the 
Jewish writings, viz. Michael, 
the patron of the Jewish nation, 
Dan. 10:13,21. 12:1. Jude v. 9. 
Rev. 12:7. Gabriel, Dan 8:16. 
9:21. Luke 1:19,26. Raphael, 
in the Apocrypha, Tob. 3:17. 
5:4, fee. 

ARCHELAUS, a son of Her- 
od the Great, by his Samaritan 
wife Malthace. He was edu- 



ARE 



[22] 



AR 



cated with his brother Antipas at 
Rome, and after his father's 
death was placed over Judea, 
Idumea and Samaria, (the cities 
Gaza, Gadara and Hippo ex- 
cepted,) with the title of eth- 
narck or tetrarch; whence he is 
said to reign, Matt. 2 : 22. After 
enjoying his power for ten years, 
he was accused before the em- 
peror on account of his cruelties, 
and banished to Vienne on the 
Rhone, in Gaul, where he 
died. 

ARCTURUS signifies, prop- 
erly, the Bear's Tail, and denotes 
a star in the tail of the Great 
Bear, or constellation Ursa Ma- 
jor. The sons of Arcturus are, 
probably, the smaller stars adja- 
cent. Job 9:9. 38:32. 

AREOPAGUS, the place, or 
court of Mars, in which the Are- 
opagites, the celebrated and 
supreme judges of Athens, as- 
sembled. It was on an eminence, 
formerly almost in the middle of 
the city ;' but nothing remains by 
which we can determine its form 
or construction. The Areopa- 
gites took cognizance of murders, 
impieties and immoralities ; they 
punished vices of all kinds, idle- 
ness included ; they rewarded or 
assisted the virtuous ; they were 
peculiarly attentive to blasphe- 
mies against the gods, and to the 
performance of the sacred mys- 
teries. It was, therefore, with 
the greatest propriety, that Paul 
was questioned before this tribu- 
nal. Having preached at Athens 
against the plurality of gods, and 
declared that he came to reveal 
to the Athenians that God whom 
they adored without knowing 
him, the apostle was carried be- 
fore the Areopagites, as the intro- 
ducer of new deities, where he 
spoke with so much wisdom, that 
he converted Dionysius, one of 
the judges, and was dismissed 



without any interference on their 
part. Acts 17:19,22, &c. 

ARETAS, the name of sever- 
al kings of Arabia Petreea. The 
only one mentioned in Scripture 
gave his daughter in marriage to 
Herod Antipas; but she being 
repudiated by Herod, Aretas 
made war upon him (A. D. 37) 
and destro} 7 ed his army. In con- 
sequence of this, the emperor 
Tiberius, indignant at the audaci- 
ty of Aretas, and being entreated 
by Herod to give him assistance, 
directed Vitellius, then proconsul 
of Syria, to make war upon the 
Arabian king, and bring him 
alive or dead to Rome. But 
while Vitellius was in the midst 
of preparation for the war, and 
had already sent forward some 
of his troops, he received intelli- 
gence of the death of Tiberius ; 
on which he immediately recalled 
his troops, dismissed them into 
winter quarters, and then left the 
province, A. D. 39. Aretas, 
taking advantage of this supine- 
ness, seems to have made an in- 
cursion and got possession of 
Damascus ; over which he then 
appointed a governor or ethnarch, 
who, at the instigation of the 
Jews, attempted to put Paul in 
prison. 2 Cor. 11:32. Comp. 
Acts 9 : 24,25. Under Nero, how- 
ever, (A. D. 54 to 67,) Damascus 
appears again on coins as a Ro- 
man city. 

ARIMATHEA, or Ram ah, 
a city whence came Joseph the 
counsellor, mentioned Luke 
23:51. But as there were at 
least two cities of this name in 
Palestine, it is somewhat uncer- 
tain which of these is meant. 
Most probably, however, it was 
the Ramah of mount Ephraim, 
the birth-place and residence of 
Samuel. This was called, also, 
Ramathaim-Zophim, 1 Sam. 1 :1, 
comp. vs. 19, from which name 



ARK 



[23] 



ARM 



the form Arimathea is readily 
derived. See Ramah. 

I. ARK of Noah, the vessel in 
which the family of Noah was 
preserved during - the deluge, 
when all the rest of our race per- 
ished for their sins. The form 
and dimensions of the ark have 
given rise to an infinite amount 
of useless speculation, and vol- 
umes have been written on the 
subject 3 but all such specula- 
tion is vain, and we can only 
draw the conclusion from the 
Scripture account, that the ark 
was not a ship, but a building in 
the form of a parallelogram, 300 
cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 
30 cubits high. The ark is called 
in Hebrew, in the Septuagint, 
and by Josephus, a chest. So 
far as this name affords any evi- 
dence, it goes to show that the 
ark of Noah was not a regularly 
built vessel, but merely intended 
to float at large upon the waters. 
We may, therefore, probably 
with justice, regard it as a large, 
oblong, floating house, with a 
roof either flat, or only slightly 
inclined. It was constructed 
with three stories, and had a 
door in the side. There is no 
mention of windows in the side, 
but above, i. e. probably, in the 
flat roof, where Noah was com- 
manded to make them of a cubit 
in size. Gen. 5 : 16. That this 
is the meaning of the passage, 
seems apparent from Gen. 8 : 13, 
where Noah removes the cover- 
ing of the ark, in order to behold 
whether the ground was dry ; a 
labor surely unnecessary had 
there been windows in the sides 
of (he ark. 

II. ARK of the Covenant, the 
sacred chest or coffer in which 
the tables of the law were depos- 
ited. It was of shittim-wood, 
covered with plates of gold 5 two 
cubits and a half in length, a cu- 



bit and a half wide, and a cubit 
and a half high. On the top of 
it, all rouno, ran a kind of gold 
crown; and two cherubim were 
over the cover. It had four rings 
of gold, two on each side, through 
which staves were put, by which 
it was carried. Ex. 25:10— 22. 
After the passage of the Jordan, 
the ark continued some time at 
Gilgal, Josh. 4: 19, whence it was 
removed to Shiloh. 1 Sam. 1:3. 
Hence the Israelites took it to 
their camp; but when they gave 
battle to the Philistines, it was 
taken by the enemy, c. 4. The 
Philistines, oppressed by the 
hand of God, however, returned 
the ark, and it was lodged at 
Kirjath-jearim. c. 7:1. It was 
afterwards, in the reign of Saul, 
at Nob. David conveyed it 
from Kirjath-jearim to the house 
of Obed-Edom ; and from thence 
to his palace on Zion, 2 Sam. 
c. 6; and, lastly, Solomon 
brought it into the temple at Je- 
rusalem. 2Chr. 5:2. It remain- 
ed in the temple, with all suitable 
respect, till the times of the later 
idolatrous kings of Judah, who 
profaned the most holy place 
by their idols, when the priests 
appear to have removed the ark 
from the temple. At least, Josiali 
commanded them to bring it back 
to the sanctuary, and forbade 
them to carry it about, as they 
had hitherto done. 2 Chr. 35:3. 
The ark appears to have been 
lost or destroyed at the captivity ; 
as we hear nothing of it after- 
wards. 

Beside the tables of the cove- 
nant, placed by Moses in the 
sacred coffer, God appointed the 
blossoming rod of Aaron to be 
lodged there, Num. 17:10. Heb. 
9:4; and the omer of manna 
whiVh was gathered in the wil- 
derness, Ex. 16:33,34. 

ARMAGEDDON, (mountain 



ARM 



[24] 



ARM 



of Megiddo,) a place mentioned 
Rev. 16:16. Megiddo is a city 
in the great plain at the foot of 
mount Carmel, which had been 
the scene of much slaughter. 
Under this character it is referred 
to in the above text, as the place 
in which God will collect together 
his enemies for destruction. 

ARMENIA, a large country of 
Asia, having Media on the east, 
Cappadocia on the west, Colchis 
and Iberia on the north, Mesopo- 
tamia on the south, and the Eu- 
phrates and Syria on the south- 
west. 2 K. ID: 37. 

ARMS and ARMOR. The 
Hebrews used in war offensive 
arms of the same kinds as were 
employed by other people of their 
time, and of the East; swords, 
darts, lances, javelins, bows, ar- 
rows, and slings. For defensive 
arms, they used helmets, cui- 
rasses, bucklers, armor for the 
thighs, &.c. 




The preceding figure is in 
tended to illustrate the armor of 
the champion Goliath. 1 Sam. c. 
17. It is, however, drawn merely 
from the description, and may 
or may not resemble the original. 

The next is a Roman soldier 
in armor, from Antonine's column 
at Rome. 




On p. 25, the first engraving, 
from an ancient gem, shows the 
parts of a complete suit of armor, 
separately. (1.) The Leg-pieces, 
or greaves ; (2.) the Spear, stuck 
in the ground ; (3.) the Sword, in 
this instance in its sheath ; (4.) the 
Cuirass, or defence of the body ; 
this appears to be made of leather 
or some pliant material, ca- 
pable of taking the form of the 
parts; (5.) the Shield; upon 
which is placed (6.) the Helmet, 
with its flowing crest. 

The next is among the most cu- 
rious statues of antiquity remain- 
ing, being a portrait of Alexander 
the Great fighting on horseback ; 
and probably, also, a portrait of 
his famous horse Bucephalus. 




2. Portrait of Alexander,. 




ARN 



[26] 



ASA 



The annexed figures represent 
standards or ensigns of ihe Ro- 
man legions; and explain on 
what principles the Jews might 
regard them as idolatrous, not 
only because they had been con- 
secrated to idols, and by heathen 
priests, but as they had images 
on them. See Abomination 




ARNON, a river rising in the 
mountains east of the Dead sea, 
into which it flows. It is now 
-called Wady Mod-jeb, and an- 
ciently divided the territories of 
the Moabites and Amoriles. 
Num. 21 : 13. It flows in a deep 
and wild ravine of the same 
name. Burckhardt, after reach- 
ing the ruins of Aroer, which 
stand on the edge of the preci- 
pice, at the foot of which the 
Arnon flows, says, " From hence 
a footpath leads down to the 
river. The view which the Mod- 
ieb presents is very striking. 
From the bottom, where the river 
runs through a narrow stripe of 
verdant level about forty yards 



across, the steep and barren 
banks arise to a great height, 
covered with immense blocks of 
stone which have rolled down 
from the upper strata ; so that, 
when viewed from above, the 
valley looks like a deep chasm, 
formed by some tremendous con- 
vulsion of the earth, into which 
there seems to be no possibility 
of descending to the bottom. 
The distance from the edge of 
one precipice to that of the oppo- 
site one, is about two miles in a 
straight line.' 7 

AROER, a city of Moab ; see 
Arnon. 

ARTAXERXES, the name 
of several kings of Persia. It is 
given in Ezra 4:7, &c. to Smer- 
dis the Magian, who usurped the 
throne after the death of Cam- 
byses, B. C. 522, pretending to 
be Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, 
whom Cambyses had put to 
death. The king of this name, 
mentioned in Ezra c. 7 and 8, is, 
most probably, Artaxerxes Lon- 
gimanus, the son and successor 
of Xerxes, who ascended the 
throne B. C. 464, and died B. C. 
425, after a mild reign of thirty- 
nine years. 

ASA, son and successor of 
Abijam, king of Judah. 1 K. 
15:8, began to reign B. C. 951, 
and reigned forty-one years at 
Jerusalem. Asa expelled those 
who, from sacrilegious supersti- 
tion, prostituted themselves in 
honor of their false gods ; purified 
Jerusalem from the infamous 
practices attending the worship 
of idols ; and deprived his mother 
of her office and dignity of queen, 
because she erected an idol to 
Astarte. In the latter part of his 
life, he became diseased in his 
feet; and Scripture reproaches 
him with having had recourse to 
the physicians, rather than to the 
Lord. 2Chr. 16:12, 



ASH 



[27] 



ASH 



ASAHEL, son of Zeruiah, 
and brother of Joab ; one of Da- 
vid's thirty heroes, and extremely 
swift of foot ; killed by Abner, at 
the battle of Gibeon. 2 Sam. 
2:18,19, &c. 

ASAPH, a celebrated musi- 
cian in David's time, and one of 
the leaders of the temple music. 
1 Chr. 25: 1,2, &c. His name is 
also prefixed to twelve psalms, 
viz,, the liftieth, and from the 
seventy-third to the eighty-third; 
but whether he wrote them, or 
whether they were written for 
him or his family to sing, is un- 
known. See Music. 

ASHDOD, one of the five 
cities of the Philistines, assigned 
to the tribe of Judah, but never 
conquered by them. Josh. 13 : 3. 
1 Sam. 5:L 6:17, &c. It was 
called by the Greeks Azotus. 
Acts 8 :40. Here stood the tem- 
ple of Dagon : and hither the ark 
was first brought, after the fatal 
battle at Ebenezer. 1 Sam. 5:1, 
&c. At the present day, it is a mis- 
erable village, still called Esdud. 

ASHES. To repent in sack- 
cloth and ashes, or to lie down 
among ashes, was an external 
sign of self-affliction for sin, or of 
grief under misfortune. We find 
it adopted by Job, c. 2:8; by 
many Jews when in great fear, 
Esth. 4:3; and by the king of 
Nineveh, Jonah 3:6. 

ASHIMA, a deity adored by 
the men of Hamath, who were 
settled in Samaria. 2 K. 17:30. 
It is, probably, the same word as 
the Persian usuman. heaven ; and 
signifies the host of heaven, i. e. 
the stars, or perhaps the sun alone. 
ASHTORETH, or plural 
ASHTAROTH, called by the 
Greeks Astarte, was a goddess 
of the Phoenicians, 2 K. 23 : 13, 
whose worship was also intro- 
duced among the Israelites and 
Philistines. IK. 11:5,33. 1 Sam. 



7:3. 31:10. She is more eom- 
monly named in connection with 
Baal. Judg.2:13. 10:6. 1 Sam. 
7:4. 12:10. Another Hebrew 
name for the same goddess is 
Askerah, i. e. the happy, the for- 
tunate ; or more simply fortune. 
This last name is commonly ren- 
dered in the English version 
grove; this meaning, however, 
cannot be supported in any one 
passage, but is manifestly contra- 
ry both to the etymology and to 
the context. Both the^e Hebrew 
names of Astarte, when used in 
the plural, often signify images or 
statues of Astarte; which are 
then said to be broken down,, 
destroyed, &c. In connection 
with the worship of Astarte there 
was much of dissolute licentious- 
ness ; and the public prostitutes of 
both sexes were regarded as con- 
secrated to her. See 2 K. 23 : 7. 
Comp. Lev. 19:29. Deut.23:18. 

As now Baal, or Bel, denotes, 
in the astrological mythology of 
the East, the male star oi for- 
tune, the planet Jupiter ; so Ash- 
toreth signifies the female star of 
fortune, the planet Venus. Some, 
however, suppose that Baal desig- 
nates the sun, and Ashtorelh the 
moon. See more under Baal. 

Ashtaroth-Karnai in, Genesis 
14:5, or simply Ashtaroth t 




ASK 



[28] 



ASS 



Deut. 1 :4, a city of Og, king- of 
Bashan, beyond Jordan. The 
name is doubtless derived from 
:he goddess Ashtoreth or Astarte, 
who was adored there under the 
figure of a female with a cres- 
cent, or horns. Karnaim signi- 
fies horns. 

ASIA, one of the great di- 
visions of the eastern continent, 
lying east of Europe. The Asia 
spoken of in the Bible, is Asia 
Minor, a peninsula, which lies 
between the Euxine or Black sea 
and the eastern part of the Med- 
iterranean, and which formerly 
included the provinces of Phry- 
gia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Caria, 
Lycia, Lydia, Mysia, Bithysiia, 
Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Ga- 
latia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia. 
On the western coast were an- 
ciently the countries of iEolia, 
Ionia and Doris, the names of 
which were afterwards retained, 
although the countries were in- 
cluded in the provinces of Mysia, 
Lydia and Caria. Many Jews 
were scattered over these re- 
gions, as appears from the his- 
tory in Acts, and from Josephus. 
The writers of the N. T. com- 
prehend, under the name of Asia, 
either (1) the whole of Asia Mi- 
nor, Acts 19:26,27. 20:4,16,18; 
or (2) only proconsular Asia, i. e. 
the region of Ionia, of which 
Ephesus was the capital, and 
which Strabo also calls Asia. 
Acts 2:9. 6:9. 16:6. 19:10,22. 
Cicero speaks of proconsular Asia 
as containing the provinces of 
Phrvgia, Mysia, Caria and Lvdia. 

ASKELON, a city in the"land 
of the Philistines, between Ash- 
dod and Gaza, on the coast of 
the Mediterranean. After the 
death of Joshua, the tribe of Ju- 
dah took Askelon ; but it subse- 
quently became one of the five 
governments belonging to the 
Philistines. Judges 1 : 18. 1 Sam. 



6 : 17. Dr. Richardson thus de- 
scribes its present state : " As- 
kelon was one of the proudest 
satrapies of the Philistines ; now 
there is not an inhabitant within 
its walls ; and the prophecy of 
Zechariah is fulfilled — • The king 
shall perish from Gaza, and As- 
kelon shall not be inhabited. 7 " 
Zech. 9:5. 

ASP, a kind of serpent, whose 
poison is of such rapid operation, 
that it kills almost the instant it 
penetrates, without a possibility 
of remedy. It is said to be very 
small. Forskaal supposes it to 
be the coluber bcetaen of Lin- 
naeus ; but the true asp of the 
ancients seems to be entirely un- 
known. It is frequently men- 
tioned by ancient writers ; but in 
such a careless and indefinite 
manner, that it is impossible to 
ascertain the species with pre- 
cision. Critics are still undecid- 
ed with respect to the species by 
which Cleopatra procured her 
death ; and, indeed, whether she 
was bitten or stung at all. Job 
20:16. Rom. 3:13. 

ASS, an animal well known 
for domestic uses ; and frequently 
mentioned in Scripture. People 
of the first quality in Palestine 
rode on asses. Deborah, in her 
song, describes the nobles of the 
land as those ivho ride on white 
asses. Judg. 5 : 10 ; comp. Judg. 
10:4. 12:14. The oriental asses 
are not to be compared with 
those of northern countries ; but 
are far more stately, active and 
lively. Indeed they were an- 
ciently, as still, highly prized ; 
and were also preferred for rid- 
ing, especially the she-asses, on 
account of their sure-footedness. 
Hence we so often find mention 
of she-asses alone. 

The Wild Ass is a well-known 
oriental animal, often mentioned 
in Scripture, and is a much 




Us7ied 3» C\ 



ASS 



[29] 



ATH 



handsomer and more dignified 
animal than the common ass. 
These animals were anciently 
found in Palestine, Syria, Arabia 
Deserta, Mesopotamia, Phrygia 
and Lycaoniaj but they rarely 
occur in those regions at the 
present time, and seem to be 
almost entirely confined to Tar- 
tary, some parts of Persia and 
India, and Africa. Their man- 
ners greatly resemble those of 
the wild horse. They assemble 
in troops under the conduct of a 
leader or sentinel, and are ex- 
tremely shy and vigilant. They 
will, however, stop in the midst 
of their course, and even suffer 
the approach of man for an in- 
stant, and then dart off with the 
utmost rapidity. They have 
been at all times celebrated for 
their swiftness. Their voice re- 
sembles **>at of the common ass, 
but > antler. Mr. Morier saj's, 

We gave chase to two wild 
asses, which had so much the 
speed of our horses, that when 
they had got at some distance, 
they stood still and looked behind 
at us, snorting with their noses in 
the air, as if in contempt of our 
endeavors to catch them." 

ASSYRIA, a celebrated coun- 
try and empire, had its name 
from Ashur, or Assur, the second 
son of Shem, who settled in that 
region. Gen. 10:22. The his- 
tory of this empire is exceedingly 
obscure. In the Bible the name 
Assyria is employed in three 
different significations, viz. 

1. Assyria ancient and proper 
lay east of the Tigris, between 
Armenia, Susiana andMedia,and 
appears to have comprehended 
the six provinces attributed to it 
by Ptolemy, viz. Arrapachis, 
Adiabene, Arbelis, (now Erbil,) 
Calachene, (Heb. Halah? 2 
Kings 17:6,) Apollonias, and 
Sittacene. It is the region which 
3* 



mostly comprises the modern 
Kurdistan and the pashalik of 
Mosul. Of these provinces, Adi- 
abene was the most fertile and 
important; in it was situaled 
Nineveh, the capital ; and the 
term Assyria, in its most narrow 
sense, seems sometimes to have 
meant only this province 

2. Most generally, Assyria 
means the kingdom of Assyria, 
including Babylonia and Meso- 
potamia, and extending to the 
Euphrates, which is, therefore, 
used by Isaiah as an image of 
this empire. Isa. 7:20. 8:7. In 
one instance, the idea of the em- 
pire predominates so as to ex- 
clude that of Assyria proper, viz. 
Gen. 2 : 14, where the Hiddekel 
or Tigris is said to flow eastward 
of Assyria. 

3. After the overthrow of the 
Assyrian state, the name contin- 
ued to be applied to those coun- 
tries which had been formerly 
under its dominion, viz. (a) To 
Babylonia. 2 Kings 23:29. Jer. 
2:18. (b) To Persia, Ezra 6: 22, 
where Darius is also called king 
of Assvria. 

ATHALIAH, daughter of 
Ahab king of Israel, and wife of 
Joram king of Judah, a very 
wicked woman. Her history is 
given in 2 K. c. 11, and 2 Chr. 
22:10.— c. 23. 

ATHENS, a celebrated city 
and powerful commonwealth of 
Greece, distinguished by the mil- 
itary talents, learning, eloquence 
and politeness of its inhabitants. 
When Paul visited it, about 
A. D. 52, he found it plunged in 
idolatry, occupied in inquiring 
and reporting news, curious to 
know every thing, and divided in 
opinion concerning religion and 
happiness. Acts c. 17. The 
apostle, taking opportunities to 
preach Jesus Christ, was brought 
before the judges of the Areopa- 



BAA 



[30] 



BAA 



gus, where he gave an illustrious 
testimony to truth,, and a remark- 
able instance of powerful reason- 
ing. See Areopagus. The 
schools, prolessors and philos- 
ophers of Athens were very 
famous. At present it is called 
Settines, and the population, in 
1812, was about 12,000. 

ATONEMENT, day of, see 
Expiation. 

AUGUSTUS, first emperor of 
Rome, began to reign B. C. 19. 
Augustus was the emperor who 
appointed the enrolment, Luke 
2:1, which obliged Joseph and 
the Virgin to go to Bethlehem 



the place where the Messiah was 
to be born. He died A. D. 14. 

AVEN, see Heliopolis. 

AVENGER of Blood, see 
Refuge. 

AZARIAH, a king of Judah. 
2 K. c. 15. In 2 Chr. c. 26, and 
elsewhere, he is called Uzziah. 
He began to reign at 16 years of 
age, B. C. 806. The first part 
of his reign was prosperous and 
happy ; but afterwards, presum- 
ing to offer incense in the temple, 
he was smitten with leprosy, and 
continued a leper till his death. 
2 Chr. 26:16, &.c. 

AZOTES, see Ashdod. 



B. 



BAAL, or Bee, signifies lord, 
and was the name of an idol god 
of the Phoenicians and Canaan- 
ites, who is very commonly 
mentioned along with Ashtaroth, 
or Astarte. 

The word Baal, in the O. T. 
when employed without further 
addition, denotes an idol of the 
Phoenicians, and particularly of 
the Tyrians, whose worship was 
also introduced, with great so- 
lemnities, among the Hebrews, 
and especially at Samaria, along 
with that of Astarte. Judg. 6 : 25, 
&c. 2 Kings 10: IS, &c. (See 
Ashtoreth.) In the plural, 
Baalim, the word signifies images 
or statues of Baal. Judg. 2: 11. 
10:10, &c. Of the extent to 
which the worship of this idol 
was domesticated among the 
Phoenicians and Carthaginians, 
we have an evidence in the 
proper names of persons ; as, 
among the former, Ethbaal, Je- 
rubbaal ; and, among the latter, 
Hannibal, Asdmbal, &c. — 
Among the Babylonians, the 
same idol was worshipped under 



I the name of Bel, which is only 
another form of the word Baal, 
e. g. Isa. 46:1. Jer. 50:2. 51: 
44. His worship was estab- 
lished in Babylon in the famous 
tower of Babel, the uppermost 
room of which served at the 
same time as an observatory, 
and was the repository of a col- 
lection of ancient astronomical 
observations. 

That in the astronomical, or 
rather astrological mythology of 
the East, we are to look for the 
origin of this worship in the ad- 
oration of the heavenly bodies, 
is conceded by all critics. The 
more common opinion has been, 
that Baal, or Bel, is the sun, 
and that, under this name, this 
luminary received divine honors. 
This was probably the case, at 
least originally; and it would 
seem that the fundamental idea 
of all oriental idolatry,. — which 
may also be traced from India to 
the north of Europe, — is the pri- 
meval power of nature, which 
divides itself into the generative, 
and the conceptive or productive 



BAA 



[31 ] 



BAB 



power. Of these two, the male 
and female powers of nature, the 
sun and moon appear to have 
been worshipped as the repre- 
sentatives, under the names of 
Baal and Aslarte, at least by 
the most ancient Babylonians 
and other Semitish tribes. But 
if we fix our view more partic- 
ularly on a later period, we find 
that the Greek and Roman 
writers give to the Babylonian 
Bel the name of Jupiter Belus. 
By this name, however, they did 
not mean the " father of the 
gods," but the planet Jupiter, 
which was regarded, along with 
the planet Venus, as the princi- 
ple of all good, the guardian and 
giver of all good fortune ; and 
formed, with Venus, the most for- 
tunate of all constellations, under 
which alone fortunate sovereigns 
could be born. This planet, 
therefore, many suppose to have 
been the object of worship under 
the name of Baal ; as also the 
planet Venus under that of As- 
tarte. Not that the sun was not 
an object of idolatrous worship 
among these nations ; but in that 
case he is represented under his 
own name ; as 2 K. 23 : 11. 

The temples and altars of Baal 
were generally on eminences. 
Manasseh placed in the two 
courts of the temple at Jerusalem 
altars to all the host of heaven, 
and, in particular, to Astarte. 
2 Kings 21:5,7. Jeremiah 
threatens those of Judah who 
had sacrificed to Baal on the 
house-top, c. 32: 29 3 and Josiah 
destroyed the altars which Ahaz 
had erected on the terrace of his 
palace. 2 Kings 23:12. 

Human victims were offered to 
Baal, as they were also to the 
sun. Jeremiah reproaches the 
inhabitants of Judah and Jerusa- 
lem with " building the high 
places of Baal, to burn their sons 



with fire for burnt-offerings unto 
Baal," c. 19:5, — an expression 
which appears to be decisive, for 
the actual slaying by fire of the 
unhappy victims to Baal. 

The children of Israel were 
prone to serve Baal. See Num. 
25:3. Judg. 2:13. 3:7. Under 
Samuel they put away their idols. 
1 Sam. 7:4. This continued 
under David and Solomon ; but 
under Ahab, the worship of Baal 
was restored with great pomp. 
1 Kings 16:31, &c. 

Joined with other words, Baal 
signifies also other false gods. 
Baal-Berith, or the " lord of the 
covenant, 77 was a god of the 
Shechemites. Judg. 8:33. 9.4. 
Baal-Peor,ox u thelord of Peor, 77 
was a filthy idol of the Moabites. 
Num. 25 : 3,5. Hos. 9 : 10.— The 
word Baal also forms a part of 
the name of many cities, as Baal- 
Gad, Baal-Meon, &c. See also 
Beelzebub. 

BAASHA, son of Ahijah, ana 
commander of the armies of Na- 
dab, king of Israel. He killed 
his master treacherously at the 
siege of Gibbethon, and usurped 
the kingdom, which he possessed 
twenty-four years, B. C. 949. 
He exterminated the whole race 
of Jeroboam, as God had com- 
manded ; but, by his bad conduct, 
and his idolatry, incurred God 7 s 
indignation. 1 Kings 15:27. 
16:6, &c. Baasha, instead of 
making good use of admonition, 
transported with rage against a 
prophet, the messenger of it, 
killed him. 

BABEL, the name of a lofty 
tower, begun to be built by the 
descendants of Noah, about 120 
years after the flood ; so called 
because God there confounded 
the languages of those who were 
employed in the undertaking. 
Gen. 10:10. 11:9. Their object 
was to build a city and a tower, 



BAB 



[32] 



BAB 



to prevent their further dis- 
persion over the earth. As this 
was contrary to the divine pur- 
pose of replenishing the earth 
with inhabitants, God, therefore, 
took measures to scatter them. 
The tower was apparently left 
incomplete, but the foundation 
of the city was probably laid ; 
and a large portion, no doubt, of 
the builders remained and con- 
tinued to dwell there. The 
place became afterwards the cel- 
ebrated city of Bab} Ion It has 
been supposed that the tower of 
Babel was afterwards finished, 
and called the tower of Belus, 
within the city of Babylon ; but 
later discoveries seem to find the 
remains of the former tower in 
the great mound of ruins, Birs 
Nimrood, about six miles S. W. 
of the present ruins of Babylon. 

BABYLON, a celebrated city 
.situated on the Euphrates, the 
original foundation of which is 
referred, in the Bible, to the at- 
tempt of the descendants of Noah 
to build " a city and a tower ;" 
on account of which their lan- 
guage was confounded, and they 
were scattered, by the interpo- 
sition of God himself. Gen. c. 
11. Hence the name Babel, i. e. 
confusion. With this coincide 
the traditions related by other 
ancient writers, and professedly 
extracted from Assyrian histo- 
rians. Another Assyrian ac- 
count makes Semiramis, the 
queen of Ninus, to be the founder 
of Babylon 5 and a later Chalde- 
an account describes Nebuchad- 
nezzar as its builder. These 
accounts may all be reconciled, 
by supposing that Semiramis 
rebuilt or greatly extended the 
ancient city 5 and that Nebuchad- 
nezzar afterwards enlarged it 
still farther, and rendered it more 
strong and splendid. 

Under Nebuchadnezzar, at any 



rate, Babylon reached the sum- 
mit of her greatness and splen- 
dor. She was now the capital 
of the civilized world, and into 
her lap flowed, either through 
conquest or commerce, the wealth 
of almost all known lands. 
Justly, therefore, mightthe proph- 
ets call her the great, Dan. 4:30 j 
the praise of the whole earth, Jer. 
51 :41 ; the beauty of the Chal- 
dees' excellency, Is. 13:19; the 
lady of kingdoms, Is. 47:5 5 but 
also the tender and delicate, and 
given to pleasures, Is. 47:1,8. 
Indeed, these last epithets are 
gentle, in comparison with the 
real state of the case ; for, in 
consequence of the opulence and 
luxury of the inhabitants, the 
corruptness and licentiousness of 
manners and morals were carried 
to a frightful extreme. Well, 
therefore, might the prophets 
proclaim woes against her ! 
Well might we expect Jehovah 
to bring down vengeance on her 
crimes! Indeed, the woes de- 
nounced against Babylon by the 
prophets, constitute some of the 
most awfully splendid and sub- 
lime portions of the whole Bible. 
Is. c. 13. c. 47. Jer. c. 50. c. 51, 
and elsewhere. Hence, too, as 
the great capital, in which all the 
corruptions of idolatry were con- 
centrated, Babylon, in the Rev- 
elation of St. John, is put sym- 
bolically for Rome, at that time 
the chief seat and capital of 
heathenism. 

The city of Babylon, however, 
did not long thus remain the 
capital of the world ; for already, 
under the reign of Nebuchad- 
nezzar's grandson, Nabonnid, 
the Belshazzar of the Scriptures, 
it was besieged and taken by 
Cyrus. The accounts of Greek 
historians harmonize here with 
that of the Bible, that Cyrus 
made his successful assault on a 



BAB 



[33] 



BAB 



night when the whole city, rely- 
ing- on the strength of the walls, 
had given themselves up to the 
riot and debauchery of a grand 
public festival, and the king and 
his nobles were revelling at a 
splendid entertainment. Cyrus 
had previously caused a canal, 
which ran west of the city, and 
carried off the superfluous water 
of the Euphrates into the lake of 
Nitocris, to be cleared out, in 
order to turn the river into it ; 
which, by this means, was ren- 
dered so shallow, that his soldiers 
were able to penetrate along its 
bed into the city. Fiom this 
time its importance declined ; for 
Cyrus made Susa the capital of 
his kingdom ; and Babylon thus 
ceased to be the chief city of an 
independent state. He is said 
also to have torn down the ex- 
ternal walls, because the city 
was too strongly fortified, and 
mi^ht easily rebel against him. 
It did thus revolt against Darius 
Hystaspes, who again subdued 
it, broke down all its gates, and 
reduced its walls to the height of 
fifty cubits. According to Strabo, 
Xerxes destroyed the tower of 
Belus. The same writer men- 
tions, that, under the Persians, 
and under Alexander's success- 
ors, Babylon continued to de- 
cline ; especially after Seleucus 
Nicator had founded Seleucia, 
and made it his residence. A 
great portion of the inhabitants 
of Babylon removed thither ; 
and in Strabo's time, i. e. under 
Augustus, Babylon had become 
so desolate, that it might be 
called a vast desert. From this 
time onward, Babylon ceases 
almost to be mentioned ; even 
its ruins have not been discov- 
ered until within the last two cen- 
turies ; and it is only within the 
present century that these ruins 
nave been traced and described. 



In no place under heaven is 
the contrast between ancient 
magnificence and present des- 
olation greater than here. The 
awful prophecy of Isaiah has 
been most literally fulfilled. 
Is. c. 13. c. 14. 

There was also a Babijlon in 
Egypt, a city not far from Heli- 
opohs. Some suppose this to be 
the Babylon mentioned 1 Pet. 
5: 13. But this is not probable. 

BABYLONIA, the province of 
which Babylon was the capital ; 
now the Babylonian or Arabian 
Irak, which constitutes the pasha- 
lik of Bagdad. This celebrated 
province included the tract of 
country contained between the 
Euphrates and the Tigris, 
bounded north by Mesopotamia 
and Assyria, and south by the 
Persian gulf. This gulf was in- 
deed its only definite and natural 
boundary ; for towards the north, 
towards the east or Persia, and 
towards the west or desert Ara- 
bia, its limits were quite indefi- 
nite. It is, however, certain, 
that, both in ancient and modern 
times, important tracts on the 
eastern bank of the Tigris, and 
on the western bank of the Eu- 
phrates, and still more on both 
banks of their united stream, 
were reckoned to Babylonia, or 
Irak el-Arab. 

The most ancient name of the 
country is Shinar. Gen. 10:10. 
Dan. 1:2. Afterwards Babel, 
Babylon, and Babylonia, became 
its common appellation ; with 
which, at a later period, Chaldea, 
or the land of the Chaldeans, 
was used as synonymous, after 
this people had got the whole 
into their possession. 

Babylonia is an extensive 
plain, interrupted by no hill or 
mountain, consisting of a fatty, 
brownish soil, and subject to the 
annual inundations of the Tigris 



I 



BAC 



f 34 J 



BAL 



and Euphrates, more especially 
of the latter, whose banks are 
lower and flatter than those of 
the Tigris. The Euphrates com- 
monly rises about twelve feet 
above its ordinary level ; and 
continues at this height from the 
end of April till June. These 
frequent inundations of course 
compelled the earliest tillers of 
the soil to provide means for 
drawing off the superabundant 
water, and so distributing it over 
the whole surface, that those 
tracts which were in themselves 
less well watered, might receive 
the requisite irrigation. From 
this cause, the whole of Babylo- 
nia came to be divided up by a 
multitude of larger and smaller 
canals ; in part passing entirely 
through from one river to the 
other ; in part, also, losing them- 
selves in the interior, and serving 
only the purposes of irrigation. 
These canals seem to be the 
nvers of Babrjlon spoken of in 
Ps. 137:1. Besides this multi- 
tude of canals, which have long 
since vanished without trace, 
Babylonia contained several 
large lakes, partly the work of 
art, and partly formed by the 
inundations of the two rivers. 
Babylonia, therefore, was a land 
abounding in water; and Jere- 
miah might, therefore, well say of 
it, that it dwelt upon many waters. 
Jer. 51:13. 

BACA, Valley of, i. e. vale 
of tears, or weeping. Ps. 84:6. 
It is not necessary to understand 
here, that there was really a val- 
ley so called. The psalmist, in 
exile, or at least at a distance 
from Jerusalem, is speaking of 
the happiness of those who are 
permitted to make the usual pil- 
grimages to that city in order to 
worship Jehovah in the temple : 
" They love the ways which lead 
thither; yea, though they must 



pass through rough and dreary 
paths, even a vale of tears, yet 
such are their hope and joy of 
heart, that all this is to them as 
a well-watered country, a land 
crowned with the blessings of the 
early rain." 

BADGER, a small inoffensive 
animal, of the bear genus, which 
remains torpid all winter. It is 
an inhabitant of cold countries, 
and is not found in Arabia. 
Hence the badgers' skins men- 
tioned in Exodus 25:5. 26:14. 
Ezekiel 16:10, and elsewhere, 
as being used for covering the 
tabernacle and for shoes, could 
not have been the skins of this 
animal. It is an instance of 
wrong translation. The original 
Hebrew means a species of sea- 
cow, called also sea-man, or sea- 
camel, which is still found in the 
Red sea, the skin of which is an 
inch thick, and is used by the 
Arabs of the present day for 
shoe-leather. Burckhardt re- 
marks that he " saw parts of the 
skin of a large fish, killed on the 
coast, which was an inch in 
thickness, and is employed by 
the Arabs instead of leather for 
sandals." 

BALAAM, a prophet, or di- 
viner, of the city Pethor, on the 
Euphrates. Numb. c. 22. Balak, 
king of Moab, having seen the 
multitude of Israel, and fearing 
they would attack his country, 
sent for Balaam, to come and 
curse them. His messengers 
having declared their errand, 
Balaam, during the night, con- 
sulted God, who forbade his 
going. Balak afterwards sent 
others, whom Balaam finally 
accompanied, contrary to the 
will of God, who sent an angel 
to stop him in the way. Here 
occurred the miracle of Balaam's 
ass. See Num. 22:22, &c But 
instead of cursing:, he blessed the 



BAP 



[35] 



BAR 



children of Israel. This he did 
a second and a third time, to the 
extreme mortification of Balak, 
who dismissed him in great an- 
ger ; Balaam declaring that he 
could not " go beyond the com- 
mandment of the Lord, to do 
either good or bad of his own 
mind." He subsequently fore- 
told what Israel should, in future 
times, do to the nations round 
about ; and after having advised 
Balak to engage Israel in idola- 
try and whoredom, that they 
might offend God and be forsa- 
ken by him, quitted his territories 
for his own land. This bad 
counsel was pursued ; the young 
women of Moab inveigled the 
Hebrews to the impure and idol- 
atrous worship of Baal Peor ; for 
which 24,000Israelites were slain. 
That, however, Balaam gave 
this counsel, is not expressly 
mentioned in Scripture, but is 
only matter of tradition, which 
seems to be approved in 2 Pet. 
2:15. Judever. 11. Rev. 2:14. 
BALM, or, more properly, 
Balsam, the gum, or inspis- 
sated juice, which exudes from 
the balsam tree, the opobalsamum, 
which was anciently frequent in 
Judea.and particularly in Gilead; 
hence called the balm or balsam 
of Gile.ad. Jer. 8:22. 46:11. 
It was reckoned very valuable in 
the cure of external wounds. At 
the present day, it is collected 
chiefly in Arabia, between Mecca 
and Medina, and is, therefore, 
sometimes called the balm of 
Mecca. Its odor is exquisitely 
fragrant and pungent. It is very 
costly, and is still in the highest 
esteem among the Turks and 
other oriental nations, both as a 
medicine and as a cosmetic. 

BAPTISM is the holy ordi- 
nance by which persons are ad- 
mitted as members of the Chris- 
tian community. " The washing 



of water" is emblematical of 
that " washing," or baptism of 
the Holy Spirit, by which a per- 
son's sins are, as it were, taken 
away, and he becomes a new 
creature. The rite of baptism 
seems to have been practised in 
the Jewish church, when prose- 
lytes were admitted. John's 
baptism was preparatory to the 
Christian institution. Jesus him- 
self baptized not, but his disci- 
ples, into his name. John 4:2. 
— Baptism is also taken in Scrip- 
ture for sufferings, with which 
one is, as it were, overwhelmed. 
Matt. 20:22. Mark 10: 38. Luke 
12 -.50. Baptism for the dead, in 
1 Cor. 15:29, is probably to be 
understood in this sense. 

BARBARIAN, a word used 
by the Hebrews to denote a 
stranger ; one who knows neither 
the holy language nor the law. 
According to the Greeks, all 
other nations, however learned 
or polite they might be in them 
selves and in their manners, were 
barbarians. Hence Paul com- 
prehends all mankind under the 
names of Greeks and barbarians, 
Rom. 1:14. Luke calls the in- 
habitants of the island of Malta, 
barbarians. Acts 28:2,4. In- 
deed, barbarian is used in Scrip- 
ture for every stranger, or for- 
eigner, who does not speak the 
native language of the writer, and 
includes no implication whatever 
of savage nature or manners in 
those respecting whom it is used. 

BARLEY was sown in Pal- 
estine in autumn, and reaped in 
the sprinsr, i. e. at the passover. 
The Hebrews frequently used 
barlev bread. 2 Sam." 17: 28. 
2Kimrs4:42. John 6:9. 

BARNABAS, Joseph, or Jo- 
ses, a disciple of Jesus, and a 
companion of the apostle Paul. 
He was a Levite, and a native of 
the isle of Cyprus, and is said to 



BAS 



[36] 



BDE 



have sold all his property, and 
laid the price of it at the apostles' 
feet. Acts 4:36,37. When Paul 
came to Jerusalem, three years 
after his conversion, about A. D. 
37, Barnabas introduced him to 
the other apostles. Acts 9:26,27. 
Five years afterwards, the church 
at Jerusalem, being' informed of 
the progress of the gospel at An- 
tioch, sent Barnabas thither, who 
beheld with great joy the won- 
ders of the grace of God. Acts 
11:22. He afterwards went to 
Tarsus, to seek Paul, and bring 
him to Antioch, where they dwelt 
together two years, and converted 
great numbers. They left Anti- 
och A. D. 44, to convey alms from 
this church to that at Jerusalem. 
While they were at Antioch, the 
Holy Ghost directed that they 
should be separated for those la- 
bors to which he had appointed 
them ; i. e. the planting of new 
churches among the Gentiles. 
After three years they returned to 
Antioch. In A. D. 51, he and Paul 
were appointed delegates from 
the Syrian church to Jerusalem, 
and then to carry the apostolic de- 
crees to the Gentile churches. 
At Antioch he was led into dis- 
simulation by Peter, and was, in 
consequence, reproved by Paul. 
In their return to Asia Minor, 
Paul and Barnabas having a 
dispute relative to Mark, Barna- 
bas's nephew, they separated, 
Paul going to Asia, and Barna- 
bas, w r ith Mark, to Cyprus. Acts 
c. 13—15. Gal. 2:13. Nothing is 
known of his subsequent historv. 

BARTHOLOMEW, one 6f 
the twelve apostles. Matt. 10:3. 
Mark 3:18. Luke 6:14. He 
seems to have been the same 
person whom John calls Naihan- 
ael. John 1:45. 21:2. 

BASHAN signifies a sandy, 
soft soil; and this agrees with 
the character of the country, as 



fit for pasturing cattle. The land 
of Bashan, otherwise the Bata- 
nsea, is east of the river Jordan, 
north of the tribes of Gad and 
Reuben, and in the half-tribe of 
Manasseh. It is bounded east 
by the mountains of Gilead, the 
land of Ammon and East Edom, 
north by mount Hermon, south 
by the * brook Jabbok, west by 
the Jordan. Bashan was esteem- 
ed one of the most fruitful coun- 
tries in the world 5 its rich pas- 
tures, oaks and fine cattle are 
exceedingly commended. A 
part of it is now called the Belka, 
affording the finest pasturage, and 
every where shaded with groves 
of noble oaks and pistachio 
trees. Burckhardt says, " The 
superiority of the pasturage of the 
Belka over that of all southern 
Syria, is the cause of its posses- 
sion being much contested. The 
Bedouins have this saying : ' Thou 
canst not find a country like the 
Belka.' " Hence we may under- 
stand the expression of " the fat- 
lings of Bashan." Ezek. 39 : 18. 

BATH, or Ephah, a Hebrew 
measure, containing seven gal- 
lons, four pints, liquid measure, 
or three pecks, three pints, dry 
measure. 

BATH-SHEBA, the wife of 
Uriah, and, probably, grand- 
daughter of Ahithophel, 
which see. David first commit- 
ted adultery with her 5 then caus- 
ed her husband to be slain ; and 
afterwards took her to wife. 
These sins grieved Jehovah, who 
sent the prophet Nathan to Da- 
vid, with the parable of the ewe 
lamb. 2 Sam. 12:1, &c. David 
bitterly repented, but was yet 
punished. 2 Sam. c 11, 12. 

BDELLIUM is commonly 
supposed to be a gum from a 
tree common in Arabia and the 
East. But this substance, what- 
ever it was, is mentioned along 



BED 



L 37 ] 



BEH 



with gold and gems ', while a 
gum is certainly not so remark- 
able a gift of nature as to deserve 
this classification, or as that the 
production of it should confer on 
Havilah a peculiar celebrity. 
Hence the opinion of the Jewish 
writers is not to be contemned, 
viz. that pearls are to be here 
understood, of which great quan- 
tities are found on the shores of 
the Persian gulf and in India, 
and which might not inaptly be 
compared with manna, as hi 
Num. 11:7. 

BEARD. The Hebrews wore 
their beards long, but had, doubt- 
less, in common with other Asi- 
atic nations, several fashions in 
this, as in all other parts of dress. 
In times of grief and affliction, 
they plucked away the hair of 
their heads and beards— a mode 
of expressing grief common to 
other nations under great calam- 
ities. 

The customs of nations, in 
respect to this part of the human 
countenance, have differed so 
widely, that it is not easy, among 
us, who treat the beard as an en- 
cumbrance, to conceive properly 
of the importance which is attach- 
ed to it in the East. 

BED, in the East, is, and was 
anciently, a divan, or broad low 
step around the sides of a room, 
like a low sofa, which answered 
the purpose of a sofa by day, for 
reclining-, and of a bed by night, 
for sleeping. It was covered 
very differently, and with more 
or less ornament, according to 
the rank of the owner of the 
house. The poor had but a sim- 
ple mattress, or a cloak or 
blanket, which also answered to 
wrap themselves in by dav. Ex. 
22:27. Deut. 24:13. Hence it 
was easy for the persons whom 
Jesus healed, "to take up their 
beds and walk." 



BEELZEBUB, "the prince 
of the devils." Matt. 12 : 24, &c. 
This name is derived from Baal- 
zebub, an idol deit} among the 
Ekronites, signifying Lord of flies, 
fly-baal, jly-gcd, whose office it 
was to protect his worshippers 
from the torment of the gnats and 
flies with which that region was 
infested. 2 K. 1:2,3.16. It is 
also sometimes written Beel- 
zebul, which signifies either lord 
of tlie dwelling, region, i. e. of 
the demons, the air 5 or, with 
more probability, the dung-god. 
The Jews seem to have applied 
this appellation to Satan, as being 
the author of all the pollutions 
and abominations of idol worship. 

BEERSHEBA, i. e. the well 
of the oath, Gen. 21:31, a city 
twenty miles south of Hebron, at 
the southern extremity of the 
Holy Land. In like manner, Dan 
la} r at the northern extremity 5 
so that the phrase " from Dan to 
Beersheba" means, the whole 
length of the land. 

BEETLE, in Lev. 11:22, is 
improperly put for a species of 
locust. 

BEHEMOTH, a huge am 
phibious animal, described in 
Job, c. 40:15, «fcc. Commenta- 
tors are now generally agreed, 
that it is the hippopotamus, or 
river horse, which is found only 
in the Nile and other great rivers 
of Africa. This is a very large, 
powerful and unwieldy animal, 
which lives in the water, but 
comes out upon the banks to feed 
on grass, grain, green herbs, 
branches of trees, &.c. The ap- 
pearance of the hippopotamus, 
when on the land, is altogether 
uncouth, the body being extreme- 
ly large, flat and round, the head 
enormously large in proportion, 
and the legs as disproportionately 
short. The length of a male has 
been known to be seventeen feet, 



BEH 



[38] 



BEH 



the height seven feet, and the cir- 
cumference fifteen; the head 
three feet and a half, and the 
girt nine feet ; the mouth in width 
about two feet. The general 
color of the animal is brownish ; 
the ears small and pointed ; the 
eyes small in proportion to the 
creature, and black ; the lips very 
thick and broad ; the nostrils 
small. The armament of teeth 
in its mouth is truly formidable ; 
more particularly the tusks of the 
lower jaw, which are of a curv- 
ed form, somewhat cylindrical : 
these are so strong and hard that 
they will strike fire with steel, 
are sometimes more than two 
feet in length, and weigh upwards 
of six pounds each. The other 
teeth are much smaller. The 
tail is short and thick; and the 
whole body is thinly covered with 
short hair. 

The natives of Africa capture 
the hippopotamus by harpooning 
him as he lies asleep on the shore 
or sand banks. He always takes 
to the water ; and then the hunt- 
ers draw him up by the line of 
the harpoon to the side of their 
small ship or bark, and despatch 
him. Mr. ROppell gives the fol- 
lowing graphic account of such 
a combat on the upper Nile : — 

" One of the hippopotami which 
we killed was a very old male, 
and seemed to have reached his 
utmost growth. He measured, 
from the snout to the end of the 
tail, about fifteen feet; and his 
tusks, from the root to the point, 
along the external curve, twenty- 
eight inches. In order to kill 
him, we had a battle with him of 
four hours long, and that too in 
the night. Indeed, he came very 
near destroying our large bark ; 
and with it, perhaps, all our lives. 
The moment he saw the hunters 
in the small canoe, as they were 
about to fasten the long rope to I 



the buoy, in order to draw him 
in, he threw himself with one 
rush upon it, dragged it with him 
under water, and shattered it to 
pieces. The two hunters escaped 
this extreme danger with great 
difficulty. Out of twenty-five 
musket balls, which were fired 
into the monster's head, at the 
distance of five feet, only one 
penetrated the hide and the bones 
near the nose ; so that, every time 
he breathed, he snorted streams 
of blood upon the bark. All the 
other balls remained sticking in 
the thickness of the hide. We 
had, at last, to employ a small 
cannon, the use of which, at so 
short a distance, had not before 
entered our minds; but it was 
only after five of its balls, fired 
at the distance of a few feet, had 
mangled, most shockingly, the 
head and body of the monster, 
that he gave up the ghost. The 
darkness of the night augmented 
the horrors and dangers of the 
contest. This gigantic hippopot- 
amus dragged our large bark at 
his will, in every direction of the 
stream ; and it was in a fortunate 
moment for us that he yielded, 
just as he had drawn the bark 
among a labyrinth of rocks, 
which might have been so much 
the more dangerous, because, 
from the great confusion on board, 
no one had observed them. 

" Hippopotami of the size of 
the one above described, cannot 
be killed by the natives, for want 
of a cannon. These animals are 
a real plague to the land, in con- 
sequence of their voraciousness. 
The inhabitants have no perma- 
nent means of keeping them away 
from their fields and plantations ; 
all that they do is, to make a 
noise during the night with a 
drum, and to keep up fires in 
different places. In some parts, 
the hippopotami are so bold, that 



BER 



[39] 



BET 



they will yield up their pastures 
or places of feeding, only when 
a large number of persons come 
rushing upon them with sticks 
and loud cries." 

BEL, see Baal. 

BELIAL strictly means worth- 
tessness, and is always so used in 
a moral sense. A man or son of 
Belial, therefore, is a wicked, 
worthless man ; one resolved to 
endure no subjection ; a rebel ; 
a disobedient, uncontrollable fel- 
low. Judg. 19:22. In later 
writings, Belial is put for the 
power or lord of evil, i. e. Satan. 
2 Cor. 6 : 15. 

BELSHAZZAR, the wicked 
king of Babylon, who made an 
impious feast, at which he and 
his courtiers drank out of the 
sacred vessels which had been 
carried away from the temple at 
Jerusalem. He was terrified by 
the apparition of the hand which 
wrote upon the wall, and in the 
same night was slain, and the 
city taken by the Medes, under 
Darius and Cyrus. Dan. c. 5. 
See Babylon. 

BENJAMIN, the youngest son 
of Jacob and Rachel. Gen. 
35:16,17, &c. Rachel died im- 
mediately after he was born, and 
with her last breath named him 
Ben-oni, the son of my sorrow : 
but Jacob called him Benjamin, 
the son of my right hand. 

BEREA, a city of Macedonia, 
not far from Pella towards the 
south-west, and near mount Ber- 
mius. It was afterwards called 
Irenopolis, and is now called by 
the Turks, Boor; by others, 
Cava Veria. Acts 17 : 10,13. 

BERNICE, or Berenice, 
eldest daughter of king Herod 
Agrippa first, and sister to the 
younger Agrippa. Acts 25: 13,23. 
26:30. She was first married to 
her uncle Herod, king of Chalcis 5 
and after his death, in order to 



avoid the merited suspicion of 
incest with her brother Agrippa, 
she became the wife of Poiemon, 
king of Cilicia. This connection 
being soon dissolved, she return- 
ed to her brother, and afterwards 
became mistress of Vespasian 
and Titus. 

BERYL, the name of a pre 
cious stone of a sea-green color 
found principally in India. Rev. 
21:20. 

BETHANY, John 11:18, a 
village, distant about two miles 
east from Jerusalem, beyond the 
mount of Olives, and on the way 
to Jericho. Here Martha and 
Mary dwelt, with their brother 
Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from 
the dead ; and here Mary poured 
perfume on our Saviour's head. 

BETHEL, house of God, the 
name of a city west of Hai, on the 
confines of the tribes of Ephraim 
and Benjamin, Gen. 12:8. 28:10 
and occupying the spot where 
Jacob slept and had his memo- 
rable dream. Eusebius places 
Bethel twelve miles from Jeru- 
salem, in the way to Sichem, or 
Napolose. Bethel was also call- 
ed Beth-aven by the prophets, 
i. e. house of nought, in derision 
of the worship of the golden 
calves established there. 

BETHESDA, i. e. house or 
place of mercy, a building des- 
tined for the. reception of the 
sick ; the name of a pool or foun- 
tain near the temple in Jerusalem, 
with an open building over or 
near it, for the accommodation 
of the sick, who came to try the 
healing efficacy of the water. 
John 5: 2. 

BETH-HORON, the name of 
two cities or towns lying appar- 
ently near each other, and distin- 
guished by the names of Upper 
and Lower Beth-horon. Josh. 
16:3,5. 1 Chr. 7:24. They 
would seem to be sometimes 



BET 



[40] 



BIB 



spoken of as only one place, 
and were situated on the con- 
fines of Benjamin and Ephraim, 
about 12 miles north-west from 
Jerusalem. 

BETHLEHEM, i. e. house of 
bread, a celebrated city, the 
birthplace of David and Jesus. 
It was situated in the limits of 
the tribe of Judah, about six or 
eight miles south by west of Je- 
rusalem, and probably received 
its appellation from the fertility 
of the circumjacent country. 
Matt. 2:1,5,6,8,16. Luke 2:4, 
15. John 7:42. (See Mission- 
ary Herald, 1824, p. 67.) It was 
also called Ephrath, or Ephra- 
tah. Gen. 48:7. Mic.5:2. 

BETHPHAGE, i. e. house or 
place of Jigs, a little village at 
the eastern foot of the mount of 
Olives, between Bethany and Je- 
rusalem, and near to Bethany. 
Luke 19:29. 

BETHSAIDA, i. e. house or 
place of fishing, the name of two 
cities in the N. T. 

1. Bethsaida of Galilee was 
situated in Galilee, on the west- 
ern shore of the lake of Gennes- 
areth, a little south of Caperna- 
um, and was the birthplace of 
the apostles Philip, Andrew and 
Peter. Matt. 11:21. Mark 
6:45, &c. 

2. The other Bethsaida lay in 
Gaulonitis, on the eastern side of 
the same lake, and near the place 
where the Jordan enters it. 
Luke 9: 10. Comp. Matt. 14:13, 
&c. and Mark 6:31, &c. This 
town was enlarged by Philip, 
tetrarch of that region, Luke 3 : 1, 
and called Julias in honor of 
Julia, the daughter of Augustus. 

BETH-SHEAN, more gen- 
erally known by the name of 
Scythopolis, was situated on the 
west of the Jordan, at the south- 
eastern extremity of the great 
plain of Esdraelon, on the high 



ground between that plain and 
the valley of the Jordan. The 
place is now called Bysan, and 
is described by Burckhardt as 
situated on rising ground, on the 
west of the river Jordan, about 
twenty-four miles south of Tibe- 
rias. The present village con- 
tains seventy or eighty houses, 
the inhabitants of which are in a 
miserable condition, owing to 
the depredations of the Bedou- 
ins. The ruins of the ancient 
city are of considerable extent, 
along the banks of the rivulet 
which ran by it, and the valley 
formed by its branches ; and be- 
speak it to have been nearly 
three miles in circuit. 1 Sam. 
31:10. 
BETH-SHEMESH, see He- 

LIOPOLIS. 

BETROTHING, the engage- 
ment of a man and woman to 
marry each other at a future 
time. Parents anciently often 
betrothed their daughters without 
their consent, and even while yet 
young, as is still the case in ori- 
ental countries. Sometimes a 
regular contract was made, in 
which the bridegroom always 
bound himself to give a certain 
sum as a portion to his bride. 
See Espousals. 

BIBLE. This word signifies^ 
book, by way of distinction, i. e. 
the book of all books. It is also 
called Scripture, or the Scrip- 
tures, i. e. the writings. It com- 
prises the Old and New Testa- 
ments, or more properly cove- 
nants. The former was written 
mostly in Hebrew, and was the 
Bible of the ancient Jewish 
church ; a few chapters of Daniel 
and Ezra only were written in 
Chaldee. The N. T. was wholly 
written in Greek, and is more 
peculiarly the rule of faith to 
Christians, as unfolding the his- 
tory and doctrines of their, di 



BIB 



[41 J 



BIR 



vine Redeemer and of his holy 
institutions. 

The first English translation of 
the N. T. was that of Wycliffe, 
made about 1370, before the in- 
vention of printing. The next 
was that of Tyndal, printed in 
1526, which was afterwards fol- 
lowed by his translation of the 
Pentateuch. The first complete 
English Bible is that of bishop 
Coverdale, in 1535. Matthew's 
Bible appeared in 1537. Cover- 
dale and some other prelates, who 
resided at Geneva during the 
bloody reign of Mary, published 
there another edition in 1560, 
hence called the Geneva Bible. 
At the accession of queen Eliza- 
beth, a new revision was made, 
which appeared in 1568, and is 
called the Bishop's Bible. This 
continued in use till our present 
English version, made by order 
of James I. was published in 
1611. The first copy of this was 
made by forty-seven of the most 
learned men in England, divided 
into three companies, at Cam- 
bridge, Oxford and Westminster. 
This first copy was then revised 
by a committee of six, or two 
from each of the three com- 
panies 5 and then again by two 
others. The work of translation 
and revision occupied between 
four and five years. 

One of the most remarkable 
movements of modern times, and 
that which holds out the greatest 
promise of good for the coming 
triumphs of the Redeemer's 
kingdom, and the temporal as 
welT as spiritual welfare of future 
generations, is the mighty effort 
which is making to circulate the 
Holy Scriptures, not only in 
Christian but also in heathen 
lands. In the year 1804, the 
British and Foreign Bible So- 
ciety was formed ; and the suc- 
cess which has attended this 
4* 



glorious object has by far ex- 
ceeded the most sanguine expec- 
tations of its founders and sup- 
porters. " Their voice has gone 
out through all the earth, and 
their words to the end of the 
world. 77 During the first twenty- 
one years of this society, it 
printed or assisted in printing, 
the Scriptures in 140 languages, 
in fifty-five of which they had 
never before been printed ; and 
issued upwards of 4,500,000 
copies of the Sacred Writings ! 
Other similar associations have 
followed nobly this glorious ex- 
ample ; and of these none has 
labored with more effect than 
the American Bible Society. 

BIRDS, like other animals, 
were divided by Moses into clean 
and unclean : the former might be 
eaten, the latter not. The gen- 
eral ground of distinction is, that 
those which feed on grain or 
seeds are clean ; while those 
which devour flesh, fish or car- 
rion are unclean. 

There is great difficulty in 
accurately determining the differ- 
ent species of birds prohibited in 
Lev. 11:13, &c. Deut. 14:11, 
&c. The English translators 
have not always given the proper 
version of the Hebrew names. 
The second column in the follow- 
ing list gives the most probable 
names ; those which may be 
reckoned certain being printed 
in small capitals. 

Birds of the Air. 

Eng. Trans. Probable Species. 

Eagle Eagle. 

Ossifrage Vulture. 

Osprey Black Eagle. 

Vulture Hawk. 

Kite Kite. 

Raven Raven. 

Birds of the Land. 

Owl Ostrich. 

Night Hawk Night Owl, 



BIT 



[42] 



BLE 



Cuckoo Saf-Saf. 

Hawk Ancient Ibis. 

Birds of the Water. 

Little Owl Sea-Gull. 

Cormorant Cormorant. 

Great Owl Ibis Ardea. 

Swan Wild Goose. 

Pelican Pelican. 

Gier-Eagle Alcyone. 

Stork Stork. 

Heron Long Neck. 

Lapwing Hoopoe. 



Unique. 



.Bat. 



Bat 



Moses, to inculcate humanity 
on the Israelites, orders, if they 
find a bird's nest, not to take the 
dam with the young, but to suffer 
the old one to fly away, and to 
take the young only. Deut. 
22:6,7. 

BIRTHRIGHT, the privilege 
of the first-born son. Among the 
Hebrews, as, indeed, among 
most other nations, the first-born 
enjoyed particular privileges ; 
and wherever polygamy was 
tolerated, it was highly necessary 
to fix them. See Deut. 21 : 15— 
17. See First-born. 

BISHOP, an overseer, one 
who has the charge and direction 
of any thing. But the most 
common acceptation of the word 
bishop, is that which occurs Acts 
20:28, and in Paul's Epistles, 
Phil. 1:1, where it signifies the 
pastor of a church. Peter calls 
Jesus Christ " the Shepherd and 
Bishop of our souls," 1 Pet. 2: 25. 
Paul describes the qualities 
requisite in a bishop, 1 Tim. 3:2. 
Tit. 1:7, &c. 

BITHYNIA, 1 Pet. 1:1, a 
province of Asia Minor, in the 
northern part of that peninsula, 
on the shore of the Euxine, hav- 
ing Phrygia and Galatia to the 
south. It is famous as being one 
of the provinces to which the 



apostle Peter addressed his First 
Epistle 5 also, as having been 
under the government of Pliny, 
who describes the manners and 
characters of the Christians there, 
about A. D. 106 ; also for the 
holding of the most celebrated 
council of the Christian church 
in the city of Nice, its metropo- 
lis, about A. D. 325. It should 
seem to be, with some justice, 
considered as a province taught 
by Peter ; and we rea d that 
when Paul attempted to go into 
Bithynia, the Spirit suffered him 
not. It is directly opposite to 
Constantinople. Acts 16:7. 

BITTERN, a fowl about the 
size of a heron, and of the same 
genus. Nineveh and Babylon 
became a possession for the bit- 
tern and other wild birds, Isa. 
14:23. 34:11. Zeph. 2:14, ac- 
cording to the English Bible ; but 
it is very doubtful whether this 
be correct. The more probable 
meaning of the Hebrew word is 
hedge-hog, or porcupine. The 
best critics now understand it in 
this sense ; and Mr. Rich says 
expressly, that he found " great 
quantities" of porcupine quills 
among the ruins of Babylon. 

BLASPHEMY. A man is 
guilty of blasphemy, when he 
speaks of God, or his attributes, 
injuriously; when he ascribes 
such qualities to him as do not 
belong to him, or robs him of 
those which do. The law sen- 
tences blasphemers to death. 
Lev. 24:12— 16. 

BLESS, BLESSING, is re- 
ferred, (1.) to God, and, (2.) to 
man. Without doubt the inferior 
is blessed by the superior. When 
God blesses, he bestows that 
virtue, that efficacy, which ren- 
ders his blessing effectual, and 
which his blessing expresses. 
His blessings are either temporal 
or spiritual, bodily or mental j 



BOO 



[43] 



BOO 



but in every thing- they are pro- 
ductive of that which they im- 
port. The blessing's of men are 
only good wishes, personal or 
official, and, as it were, a pecu- 
liar kind of prayer to the Author 
of all good, for the welfare of 
the subject of them. God's 
blessings extend into the future 
life 5 but no gift of one man to 
another can exceed the limits of 
the present state. Blessing, on 
the part of man, is an act of 
thanksgiving to God for his 
mercies} or, rather, for that 
special mercy, which, at the 
time, occasions the act of bless- 
ing ; as for food, for which thanks 
are rendered to God, or for any 
other g-ood. 

BLOOD, Avenger of, see 
Refuge. 

BOANERGES, that is, Sons 
of Thunder ; a name given by 
our Saviour to James and John, 
the sons of Zebedee, Mark 3 : 17, 
on the occasion, probably, of their 
request that he would call for fire 
from heaven, and destroy a cer- 
tain village of the Samaritans, 
which had refused to entertain 
them. Luke 9:53,54. It is ap- 
plied to them no where else. 

BOOK. Several sorts of ma- 
terials were anciently used in 
making books. Plates of lead 
or copper, the bark of trees, 
brick, stone and wood, were 
originally employed to engrave 
such things and documents upon, 
as men desired to transmit to 
posterity. God's laws were 
written on stone ; and Solon's 
laws on wooden planks. Tablets 
of wood, box and ivory were 
common among the ancients : 
when they were of wood only, 
they were oftentimes coated over 
with wax, which received the 
writing inscribed on them with 
the point of a style, or iron pen 5 
and what was written might be 



effaced by the broad end of a 
style. Afterwards, the leaves 
of the palm-tree were used in- 
stead of wooden planks; and 
also the finest and thinnest bark 
of trees, such as the lime, the 
ash, the maple, the elm : hence 
the word Liber, which denotes the 
inner bark of trees, signifies also 
a book. As these barks were 
rolled up, to be more readily 
carried about, the rolls were 
called volumen, a volume ; a 
name given likewise to rolls of 
paper, or of parchment. The 
ancients wrote likewise on linen. 
But the oldest material commonly 
employed for writing upon, ap- 
pears to have been the papyrus, 
a reed very common in Egypt, 
and other places. At a later 
period, parchment from skins was 
invented in Pergamos, and was 
there used for rolls or volumes. 
The making- of paper from 
linen, in its present modern form, 
was first known in Europe about 
A. D. 1300. The art of printing 
was introduced about 150 years 
later. 

The papyrus reed is still 
known in Sicily ; and there is a 
small manufactory of it near 
Syracuse. It has been also found 
in great plenty in Chaldea, in the 
fens at the confluence of the 
Tigris and Euphrates. Another 
country affording ancient papijri, 
was, as already stated, Egypt. 
(See Egypt.) Scrolls of it con- 
taining inscriptions were found by 
the French, during their invasion 
of that country 3 and Denon has 
given plates of more than one. 
He says, " I was assured of the 
proof of my discovery, by the pos- 
session of a manuscript, which I 
found in the hand of a fine 
mummy, that was brought me. 
I perceived in its right hand, and 
resting on the left arm, a roll of 
papyrus, on which was a manu- 



BOO 



[44] 



BOT 



script, the oldest of all the books 
in the known world. The papy- 
rus on which it is written is pre- 
pared in the same way as that 
of the Greeks and Romans 5 that 
is to say, of two layers of the 
medulla of this plant glued 
to each other, with the fibres 
made to cross, to give more con- 
sistence to the leaf. The writing 
goes from right to left, beginning 
at the top of the page." 

Book of Life, or of the Living. 
Ps. 69:28. It is probable, that 
these descriptive phrases, which 
are frequent in Scripture, are 
taken from the custom observed 
generally in the courts of princes, 
of keeping a list of persons who 
are in their service, of the prov- 
inces which they govern, of the 
officers of their armies, of the 
number of their troops, and 
sometimes even of the names of 
their soldiers. It is probable, 
also, that the primitive Christian 
churches kept lists of their mem- 
bers, in which those recently 
admitted were enrolled : these 
would take a title analogous to 
that of the book of life, or the 
Lamb's book of life ; and as this 
term occurs principally in the 
Revelation, it seems likely to be 
derived from such a custom. If 
a higher and spiritual sense, and 
in the figurative style of oriental 
poetry, God is represented as 
inscribing the names and des- 
tinies of men in a. volume ; a.nd 
the volume in which are thus 
entered the names of those who 
are chosen to salvation, is the 
book of life. Phil. 4:3. 

BOOTH, a shelter, made usu- 
ally of poles fixed upright in the 
ground, and covered over with 
green boughs. Lev. 23: 40. The 
great feast of the tabernacles, or 
booths, had its name from the 
circumstance, that the Jews were 
directed by their law to dwell in 



booths during the seven days of 
this feast. Lev. 23:42. Neh. 
8:14. See under Tabernacle. 

BOSOM, the front of the up- 
per part of the body, the breast. 
The orientals generally wore 
long, wide and loose garments 3 
and when about to carry any 
thing away that their hands would 
not contain, they used for the 
purpose a fold in the bosom of 
their robe. Our Saviour is said 
to carry his lambs in his bosom, 
which beautifully represents his 
tender care and watchfulness 
over them. Isa. 40*.ll. See also 
under Lazarus II. 

BOSSES, the thickest and 
strongest parts of a buckler. Job 
15:26. 

BOTTLE. The difference is 
so great between the properties 
of glass bottles, such as are in 
common use among us, and bot 
ties made of skin, which were 
used anciently by most nations, 
and still are used in the East, 
that when we read of bottles, 
without carefully distinguishing 
in our minds one kind of bottle 
from the other, mistake is sure to 




The accompanying engraving 



BOT 



[45] 



BRA 



shows, very clearly, the form and 
nature of an ancient bottle, out 
of which a woman is pouring- 
wine into a cup. It appears 
from this figure, that after the 
skin has been stripped off from 
the animal, and properly dressed, 
the places where the legs had 
been are closed up ; and where the 
neck was, is the opening left for 
receiving and discharging the 
contents of the bottle. This idea 
is very simple and conspicuous 
in the figure. Such bottles, when 
full, in which state this is repre- 
sented, differ, of course, from the 
same when empty ; being, when 
full, swollen, round and firm ; 
when empty, flaccid, weak and 
bending. By receiving the liquor 
poured into it, a skin bottle must 
be greatly swelled and distended, 
ancl, no doubt, it must be further 
swelled by the fermentation of 
the liquor within it, while advanc- 
ing to ripeness; so that, in this 
state, if no vent be given to it, 
the liquor may overpower the 
strength of the bottle ; or, by 
searching every crevice and 
weaker part, if it find any defect, 
A may ooze out by that. Hence 
arises the propriety of putting 
new wine into new bottles, which, 
being in the prime of their 
strength, may resist the expan- 
sion, the internal pressure of 
their contents, and preserve the 
wine to maturity j while old bot- 
tles may, without danger, contain 
old wine, whose fermentation is 
already past. Matt. 9 : 17. Luke 
5:38. Job 32:19. 

Such bottles, or skins, are still 
universally employed at the 
present day in travelling in the 
East. Mr. King mentions, when 
departing from Cairo for Jerusa- 
lem, that they " purchased four 
goat-skins ancl four leather bot- 
tles to carry water." Three 
days after, they found -that, as 



" the goat-skins were new, they 
had given the water a reddish 
color, and an exceedingly loath- 
some taste." (Miss. Herald,1824, 
pp. 34, 35.) See also under 
Vine. 

BOW, a kind of weapon well 
known. When there is mention 
in Scripture of bending the bow, 
the verb tread underfoot is gen- 
erally used ; because it was the 
custom to put the feet upon the 
bow to bend it. The phrase a 
deceitful bow, to which the people 
of Israel are compared, Ps. 78 :57. 
Hos. 7:16, means a bow which 
shoots the arrow in a wrong di- 
rection, not as it is aimed. In 2 
Sam. 1 :18, we read in the Eng- 
lish version, " Also he (David) 
bade them teach the children of 
Judah the use ofihe bow." Here 
the words " the use of 77 are not 
in the Hebrew, and convey a 
sense entirely false to the English 
reader. It should be, " teach 
them the bow," i. e the song of 
the bow, the lamentation over 
Saul and Jonathan, which fol- 
lows 5 and which is called, by 
way of distinction, the bow, 
from the mention of this weapon 
in verse 22. 

BOWELS are often put by 
the Hebrew writers for the inter- 
nal parts generally, the inner 
man, just as we often use the 
word heart. Hence the bowels 
are often represented as the seat 
of mercy, tenderness, compas- 
sion, &c. IK. 3:26. Is. 63:15. 
Jer. 31:20. 

BOZRAH, a famous city, 
afterwards called Bostra. It be- 
longed to Edom, but was situated 
in the Haouran, eastward of 
Bashan. 

BRACELET, properly an or- 
nament for the arm ; but some 
times used also in the Bible to 
signify an ornament, i. e. a ring 
or clasp, worn on the leg. Is. 



BRE 



[46] 



BRE 



3:19. Num. 31:50. The women 
of Syria and Arabia at this day 
wear great rings round their legs, 
to which are fastened many other 
lesser rings, which make a tink- 
ling- noise, like little bells, when 
they walk or stir. These rings 
are fixed above the ankle, and 
are of gold, silver, copper, glass, 
or even of varnished earth, 
according to the substance and 
condition of the wearer. The 
princesses wear large hollow 
rings of gold, within which are 
enclosed little pebbles, that tinkle. 

BRASS is frequently mention- 
ed in the English Bible; but 
there is little doubt that copper is 
intended, brass being a mixed 
metal, for the manufacture of 
which we are indebted to the 
Germans. The ancients knew 
nothingof the art. See Copper. 

BREAD, a word which in 
Scripture is taken for food in 
general. Gen. 3: 19. 18:5. 28:20. 
Ex. 2 : 20. Manna is called bread 
from heaven. Ex. 16:4. 

The ancient Hebrews had sev- 
eral ways of baking bread : they 
often baked it under the ashes, 
upon the hearth, upon round cop- 
per plates, or in pans or stoves 
made on purpose. The Arabians 
and other oriental nations, among 
whom wood is scarce, often bake 
their bread between two fires 
made of cow-dung, which burns 
slowly, and bakes the bread very 
leisurely. The crumb of it is 
very good, if it be eaten the same 
day ; but the crust is black and 
burnt, and retains a smell of the 
fuel used in baking it. This ex- 
plains Ezek. 4:9,10,12,15. 

The Hebrews, and other east- 
ern people, have a kind of oven, 
called tanour, which is like a 
large pitcher, of gray stone, open 
at top, in which they make a fire. 
When it is well heated, they 
mingle flour in water, and this 



paste they apply to the outside 
of the pitcher. It is baked in an 
instant, and being dried, is taken 
off in thin, fine pieces, like our 
wafers. Niebuhr says, " The 
Arabs of the desert use a plate 
of iron for baking their cakes of 
bread ; or they lay a round 
lump of dough among hot coals 
of wood or of camel's dung, and 
cover it over with them entirely, 
till, as they suppose, the bread is 
enough baked ; they then knock 
off the ashes from it, and eat it 
hot. The Arabs of the cities 
have ovens not unlike our own. 
These also are not without wheat 
bread. It has likewise the form 
and size of a dough-nut, or a 
middling sized apple, and is sel- 
dom sufficiently baked." In 
another place he remarks, that 
" the principal sustenance of the 
orientals in general is new bread, 
just baked in this manner; and 
on this account they furnish 
themselves on their journeys in 
the desert especially with meal." 
As the Hebrews generally 
made their bread very thin, and 
in the form of little flat cakes, or 
wafers, they did not cut it with a 
knife, but broke it ; which gave 
rise to that expression so usual 
in Scripture, of breaking bread, 
to signify eating, sitting down to 
table, taking a repast. In the 
institution of the Lord's Supper, 
our Saviour broke the bread 
which he had consecrated ; 
whence, to break bread, and 
breaking of bread, in the N. T. 
are used for celebrating the 
Lord's Supper. See under 
Eating. 

Shew-bread (Heb. bread of 
presence) was bread offered 
every sabbath day to God on the 
golden table which stood in the 
holy place. Ex. 25:30. The 
shew-bread could be lawfully 
eaten by none but the priests ; nev- 



BRE 



[47] 



BRE 



ertheless, David, having received 
some of these loaves from the 
high-priest Abimelech, ate of 
them, without scruple, in his ne- 
cessity, 1 Sam. 21 : 6 — 9 ; and our 
Saviour uses his example to jus- 
tify the apostles, who had bruised 
ears of corn, and were eating 



them on tne sabbath day. Matt. 
12:3, &c. 

BREASTPLATE, a piece of 
embroidery, about ten inches 
square, Ex. 28:15, &c. of very 
rich work, which the high-priest 
wore on his breast. It was made 
of two pieces of the same rich 




BUR 



[48] 



BUR 



embroidered stuff of which the 
ephod was made, having - a front 
and a lining', and forming a kind 
of purse or bag, in which, accord- 
ing to the rabbins, the Urim and 
Thummim were enclosed. The 
front of it was set with twelve 
precious stones, on each of which 
was engraved the name of one 
of the tribes. They were placed 
in four rows, and divided from 
each other by the little golden 
squares or partitions in which 
they were set. 

BRIDE and BRIDEGROOM, 
see Marriage and Canticles. 

BRIGANDINE, a coat of 
mail. Jer. 46:4. 51:3. 

BROTHER is used in Scrip- 
ture in a very wide sense, for a 
kinsman or any near relative. 
So Lot is called Abraham's 
brother, although he was strictly 
his nephew. Gen. 14:14,16. 
Comp. verse 12. So in very 
many instances. 

BURIAL. The Hebrews were 
at all times very careful in the 
burial of their dead : to be de- 
prived of burial was thought one of 
the greatest marks of dishonor, or 
causes of unhappiness, that could 
befall any man, Ecc. 6:3, being 
denied to none, not even to ene- 
mies ; but it was withheld from 
self-murderers till after sunset, 
and the souls of such persons 
were believed to be plunged into 
hell. Good men made it apavi 
of their devotion to inter the 
dead. Indeed, how shocking 
must the sight of unburied corpses 
have been to the Jews ? — when 
to have no burial was reckoned 
among the greatest calamities ; 
when their land was thought to 
be polluted, in which the dead 
(even criminals) were in any 
manner exposed to view ; and to 
whom the very touch of a dead 
body, or part of it, or of any 
thing that had touched a dead 



body, was esteemed a defilement, 
and required a ceremonial ablu- 
tion 1 

There was nothing determined 
particularly in the law as to the 
place of burying the dead. There 
were sepulchres in town and 
country, by the highways, in 
gardens and on mountains ; those 
belonging to the kings of Judah 
were in Jerusalem and the king's 
gardens. Ezekiel intimates that 
they were dug under the moun- 
tain upon which the temple stood ; 
since God says, that in future 
this holy mountain should not be 
polluted with the dead bodies of 
their kings. The sepulchre which 
Joseph of Arimathea had pro- 
vided for himself, and in which 
he placed our Saviour's body, 
was in his garden ; that of Rachel 
was adjacent to the highway 
from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. 
See Sepulchre and Embalm- 
ing. 

Another mode of burial was in 
a separate house, or small build- 
ing, erected for the dead of a 
single family or household. Dr. 
Jowett says, " While walking 
out one evening, near Deir el 
Kamr, with the son of my host, 
to see a detached garden belong- 
ing to his father, he pointed out 
to me, near it, a small, solid stone 
building, apparently a house , 
very solemnly adding, ' Kabbar 
beity, — the sepulchre of my fam- 
ily.' It had neither door nor 
window. He then directed my 
attention to a considerable num- 
ber of similar buildings at a dis- 
tance; which to the eye are 
exactly like houses, but which 
are, in fact, family mansions for 
the dead. They have a most 
melancholy appearance, which 
made him shudder while he ex- 
plained their use. They seem, 
by their dead walls, which must 
be opened at each several inter- 



C^ES 



[49] 



CJES 



ment of the members of a family, 
to say, ' This is an unkindly 
house, to which visitors do not 
willingly throng- ; but, one by one, 
they will be forced to enter ; and 
none who enter ever come out 
again.'" Comp. 1 Sam. 25:1 
IK. 2:34. Job 30:23. 

BURNT-OFFERINGS, see 
Sacrifice. 

BUTTER. The Hebrew word 
usually rendered butter denotes 
rather cream, or, more properly, 



sour or curdled milk. This last 
is a favorite beverage in the East 
to the present day. Burckhardt, 
when crossing the desert from 
the country south of the Dead 
sea to Egypt, says, " Besides 
flour, I carried some butter and 
dried leben, (sour milk,) which, 
when dissolved in water, forms 
not only a refreshing beverage, 
but is much to be recommended 
as a preservative of health when 
travelling: in summer." 



CAB, a Hebrew measure, ac- 
cording to the rabbins, the sixth 
part of a seah, or satum, and the 
eighteenth part of an ephah. A 
cab contained three pints and 
one third of our wine measure, 
or two pints and five sixths of our 
corn measure. 2 K. 6 :25. 

CAESAR, originally the sur- 
name of the Julian family at 
Rome. After being dignified in 
the person of Julius Caesar, it 
became the usual appellation of 
those of his family who ascended 
the throne. The last of these 
was Nero ; but the name was still 
retained by his successors, as a 
sort of title belonging to the impe- 
rial dignity. The emperors men- 
tioned or alluded to by this title in 
the N. T. are Augustus, Luke 
2:1; Tiberius, Luke 3 : 1 . 20 : 22 j 
Claudius, Acts 11 :28 ; and Nero, 
Acts 25: 8. Phil. 4:22. Caligula, 
who succeeded Tiberius, is not 
mentioned. 

CiESAREA, the name of two 
cities in Palestine, viz. 

1. Ccesarea of Palestine, or 
simply Ccesarea, situated on the 
coast of the Mediterranean sea, 
between Joppa and Tyre. It 
was anciently a small place, call- 
5 



ed the Tower of Strato, but was 
rebuilt with great splendor, and 
strongly fortified by Herod the 
Great, and named Ccesarea in 
honor of Augustus. It was in- 
habited chiefly by Greeks, and 
Herod established in it quinquen- 
nial games in honor of the em- 
peror. This city was the capital 
of Judea during the reign of 
Herod the Great and of Herod 
Agrippa I. and was also the seat 
of the Roman power, while Judea 
was governed as a province of 
the empire. It was subject to 
frequent commotions between the 
Greeks, Romans and Jews, so 
that, on one occasion, 20,000 
persons are said to have fallen in 
one day. Acts 8:40. 9:30, &c. 
It is now a heap of ruins. 

2. Ccesarea Philippi, a city of 
Upper Gaulonitis, situated near 
the sources of the Jordan, at the 
foot of mount Hermon or Pane- 
as, at its junction with mount 
Lebanon 5 and hence formerly 
called Paneas. It was rebuilt 
and enlarged by Philip the te- 
trarch, and named Ccesarea in 
honor of Tiberius. The younger 
Agrippa afterwards called it Ne- 
ronias in honor of Nero. It is 



CAM 



[50 1 



CAM 



generally supposed to occupy the 
site of the ancient city called 
Laish, Judg. 18:28, and Dan. 
Judg. 18:2. Others suppose the 
ancient city to have stood a little 
farther west. The place is now 
a poor village of 150 houses, 
called Banias. Matt. 16:13. 
Mark 8:27. 

CAIAPHAS, high-priest of the 
Jews; see Annas. 

CALAMUS, see Cane. 

CALF. The expression 
"calves of our lips," in Hos. 
14:2, means sacrijices of praijer, 
praise, &c. 

CALVARY, or Golgotha, 
that is, the place of a skull, a 
little hill north-west of Jerusalem, 
and so called, it is supposed, 
from its skull-like form, or else 
because it was a place of ex- 
ecution. It formerly stood out- 
side of the walls of Jerusalem, 
and was the spot upon which our 
Saviour was crucified. Adrian, 
having taken Jerusalem, entirely 
destro}'ed the city, and settled a 
Roman colony there, calling it 
JElia Capitolina. The new 
city was not built exactly on the 
ruins of the old, but farther north ; 
so that Calvary became almost 
the centre of the city of JEWa. 
Adrian profaned the mount, and 
particularly the placewhere Jesus 
had been crucified, and his body 
buried 5 but the empress Helena, 
the mother of Constantine the 
Great, erected over the spot a 
stately church, which is still in 
being. 

CAMEL, an animal common 
in the East, and placed by Moses 
among unclean creatures, Deut. 
14 : 7. We may distinguish three 
sorts of camels. Some are large 
and full of flesh, fit only to carry 
burdens ; (it is said, 1000 pounds 
weight ;) others, which have two 
hunches on the back, like a natural 
saddle, are fit either to carry 



burdens or to be ridden ; and a 
third kind, leaner and smaller, 
are called dromedaries, because 
ot their swiftness ; and are gen- 
erally used by men of quality to 
ride on. The only difference, 
however, between the heavy 
camel and dromedary, is, that 
the latter is lighter built and more 
active than the former; they 
differ like our heavy dray horses, 
and our lighter and more spright- 
]y saddle horses. Those with 
two hunches are rare. 

Niebuhr speaks thus of riding 
upon a dromedary, from Cairo to 
Suez : — " I chose from curiosity a 
dromedary, and found myself 
very well off, although I feared 
at first I should not be able to 
ride comfortably upon so high 
a beast. The dromedary lies 
down, like the camel, in order to 
let his rider mount. In getting 
up, he rises upon his hind legs 
first, so that the rider must 
take care not to fall down over 
his head ; he has also the same 
pace as the camels, while horses 
have to go sometimes faster, 
sometimes slower, in order to 
keep along with the caravan 
When on the march, he must not 
be stopped even to mount; and 
to avoid the need of this, he is 
taught on a certain signal to 
lower his head to the ground, so 
that his rider can set his foot 
upon his neck; and when he 
again raises his head, it requires 
but little practice to be able easi- 
ly to place one's self upon the 
saddle. The saddle of the cam- 
els that carry heavy loads, is 
open on the top, and the load 
hangs down on each side, in 
order that the hump of fat upon 
the back of the animal ma}' not 
be subjected to pressure. A 
riding saddle for a camel or 
dromedary is not very different 
from the common saddle, and 



CAM 



[51] 



CAN 



consequently covers the hump on I 
his back." 

The hardiness of the camel, 
and the slender and coarse fare 
with which he is contented, 
during - long 1 and severe journeys, 
are truly surprising-. Burck- 
hardt, in his route from the 
country south of the Dead sea 
directly across the desert to 
Egypt, was with a party of Bed- 
ouins, who made forced marches 
for nearly ten davs. " During 
the whole of this journey," he 
says, " the camels had no other 
provender than the withered 
shrubs of the desert." Similar 
to this is the account given by 
Messrs. Fisk and King, during 
their journey from Cairo to Pal- 
estine, under date of April 10, 
1823 : " When the caravan 
stops, the camels are turned out 
to feed on the thistles, weeds and 
grass which the desert produces. 
At sunset they are assembled, 
and made to lie down around the 
encampment." (Miss. Her. 1824, 
p. 35.) 

CAMELS' HAIR, an article 
of clot'iing. John the Baptist 
was habited in raiment of cam- 
els' hair, and such garments are 
worn by the modern dervishes. 
There is a coarse cloth manufac- 
tured of camels' hair in the East, 
which is used for making the 
coats of shepherds and camel- 
drivers, and also for the covering 
of tents. It was, doubtless, this 
coarse kind which was adopted 
by John. By this he was dis- 
tinguished from those residents 
in royal palaces who wore soft 
raiment. Elijah is said in the 
Eng. Bible to have been "a 
hairy man," 2 K. 1:8; but it 
should be . " a man dressed in 
hair ;" that is, camels' hair. 

CAMPHIRE, in Cant. 1:14. 
4:13, is not the gum camphor of 
our apothecaries, but the Cy- 



prus-flower, as it is sometimes 
called, the Alhenna of the Arabs, 
a whitish fragrant flower, hanging 
in clusters, like grapes. Ori- 
ental ladies make use of the 
dried leaves to give their nails 
and hands a reddish tinge ; they 
also color their eyelids black ; 
but this is done with another sub- 
stance. (See Eyelids.) The 
flowers of the Alhenna are ex- 
quisitely fragrant ; and being 
disposed in clusters, the females 
of Egypt are fond of carrying it 
in their bosoms. 

CANA, the city in which our 
Lord performed his first miracle, 
was in Galilee, and pertained to 
the tribe of Zebulun. The vil- 
lage now bearing the name, and 
supposed to occupy the site of 
the ancient town, is pleasantly 
situated on the descent of a hill, 
about sixteen miles north-west of 
Tiberias, and six north-east of 
Nazareth. 

CANAAN, the name of the 
land peopled by Canaan and his 
posterity, and afterwards given 
to the Hebrews. This country 
has, at different periods, been 
called by various names, either 
from its inhabitants or some cir- 
cumstances connected with its 
history. — (1.) The Land of Cana- 
an, from Canaan, the son of Ham, 
who divided it among his eleven 
sons, each of whom became the 
head of a numerous tribe, and 
ultimately of a distinct people. 
Gen. 10:15.— (2.) The Land of 
Promise, Heb. 11:9, from the 
promise given to Abraham, that 
his posterity should possess it. 
Gen. 12 : 7. 13 : 15. These being 
termed Hebrews, the region in 
which they dwelt was called — 
(3.) The Land of the Hebrews. 
Gen. 40:15.— (4) The Land of 
Israel, from the Israelites, or pos- 
terity of Jacob, having settled 
themselves there. This name is 



CAN 



[52] 



CAN 



of frequent occurrence in the 
O. T. In its larger acceptation, 
it comprehends all that tract of 
ground on each side of Jordan, 
which God gave for an inherit- 
ance to the children of Israel. — 
(5.) The Land of Judah. Under 
this appellation was at first com- 
prised only that part of the region 
which was allotted to the tribe 
of Judah 5 but in subsequent 
times, when their tribe excelled 
the others in dignity, it was ap- 
plied to the whole land. After 
the separation of the ten tribes, 
that portion of the land which 
belonged to Judah and Benjamin, 
who formed a separate king- 
dom, was distinguished by the 
appellation of " the land of 
Judah," or Judea ; which latter 
name the whole country retained 
during the existence of the second 
temple, and under the dominion 
of the Romans. — (6.) The Holy 
Land. This name does not ap- 
pear to have been used by the 
Hebrews themselves till after the 
Babylonish captivity, when it is 
applied to the land by the proph- 
et Zechariah, 2:12.— (7.) Pales- 
tine, by which name the whole 
land appears to have been called 
in the time of Moses, Exod. 
15:14, is derived from the Philis- 
tines, a people who migrated 
from Egypt, and, having expelled 
the aboriginal inhabitants, settled 
on the borders of the Mediterra- 
nean, where they became so 
considerable, as to give their 
name to the whole country, 
though they in fact possessed 
only a small part of it. By 
heathen writers, the Holy Land 
has been variously termed, Syr- 
ian Palestine, Syria, and Phoe- 
nicia. 

Canaan was bounded on the 
west by the Mediterranean sea, 
north by the mountains of Leba- 
non and Syria, east by Arabia 



Am- 
, and 
lesert 
aran, 
vards 



Deserta, the lands of the Am 
monites, and the Dead sea 
south by the Dead sea, the desert 
of Zin, and perhaps of Paran 
which stretches away towards 
Egypt. Near mount Lebanon 
stood the city of Dan, and near 
the southern extremity of the 
land, Beersheba ; and hence the 
expression " from Dan to Beer- 
sheba," to denote the whole 
length of the land of Canaan. 
Its extreme length was about 170 
miles, and its width about 80. 

The land of Canaan has been 
variously divided. Under Joshua 
it was apportioned out to the 
twelve tribes ; under Solomon it 
was distributed into twelve prov- 
inces, 1 K. 4:7 — 19 ; and upon 
the accession of Rehoboam to 
the throne, it was divided into 
the two kingdoms of Israel and 
Judah. Alter this period, it fell 
into the hands of the Babylonians, 
the Greeks, the Syrians and the 
Romans. During the time of 
our Saviour, it was under the do- 
minion of the last-mentioned 
people, and was divided into five 
provinces, viz. Galilee, Samaria, 
Judea, Persea and Idumea. 
Peroea was again divided into 
seven cantons, viz. Abilene, 
Trachonitis, Iturea, Gaulonitis, 
Batansea, Peraea, and Decapolis. 

The surface of the land of Ca- 
naan is beautifully diversified 
with mountains and plains, rivers 
and valleys. The principal 
mountains are Lebanon, Carmel, 
Tabor, the mountains of Israel, 
Gilead, and Hermon, the mount 
of Olives, &c. The plain of the 
Mediterranean, of Esdraelon, 
and the region round about Jor- 
dan, are celebrated as the scenes 
of many important events. The 
chief streams are the Jordan, the 
Anion, the Sihor, the Jabbok, 
the Kishon, the Kedron ; the 
lakes are the Asphaltites, or 



u 



or Shur 



J) 



£ S 



CAN 



[53] 



CAN 



Dead sea, the lake ol Tiberias, 
or sea of Galilee, and the lake 
Merom. 

The soil of Canaan was of the 
richest description ; a fine mould, 
without stones, and almost with- 
out a pebble. Dr. Shaw informs 
us, that it rarely requires more 
than one pair of beeves to plough 
it. Moses speaks of Canaan as 
of the finest country in the world 
— a land flowing with milk and 
honey. Profane authors also 
speak of it much in the same 
manner. But at the present day 
it lies almost desolate ; and large 
tracts, which require only tillage 
to become exceedingly fertile, 
now exhibit only the appearance 
of sterility. See Judea and 
Hebrews. 

CANAAN ITES, the descend- 
ants of Canaan. Their first 
habitation was in the land of 
Canaan, where they multiplied 
extremely, and by trade and war 
acquired great riches, and settled 
colonies over almost all the 
islands and coasts of the Medi- 
terranean. When the measure of 
their idolatries and abominations 
was completed, God delivered 
their country into the hands of 
the Israelites, who conquered it 
under Joshua. The following 
are the principal tribes men- 
tioned. 

1. The Hivites dwelt in the 
northern part of the country, at 
the foot of mount Hermon, or 
Anti-lebanon, according to Josh. 
11 :3, where it is related that they, 
along with the united forces of 
northern Canaan, were defeated 
by Joshua. They were not, how- 
ever, entirely driven out of their 
possessions ; for, according to 
Judg. 3 : 3, they still dwelt upon 
the mountains of Lebanon, from 
Baal-Hermon to Hamath. 

2. The Canaanites, in a stricter 
sense ; in so far as they constituted 

5* 



one of the various tribes which 
were included under this general 
name, inhabited partly the plains 
on the west side of the Jordan, and 
partly the plains on the coast of 
the Mediterranean sea. Hence 
they are divided into the Canaan- 
ites bv the sea and by the coast 
of Jordan, Num. 13:29, and into 
those of the east and of the west. 
Josh. 11:3. 

3. The Girgashites dwelt be- 
tween the Canaanites and the 
Jebusites ; as may be inferred 
from the order in which they are 
mentioned in Josh. 24:11. 

4. The Jebusites had pos- 
session of the hill country around 
Jerusalem, and of that city itself, 
of which the ancient name was 
Jebus. Josh. 15:8,63. 18:28. 
The Benjamites, to whom this 
region was allotted, did not drive 
out the Jebusites. Judg. 1:21. 
David first captured the citadel 
of Jebus. 2 Sam. 5:6, &c. 

5. The Amorites inhabited, in 
Abraham's time, the region south 
of Jerusalem, on the western 
side of the Dead sea. Gen. 
14:7. At a later period, they 
spread themselves out over the 
mountainous country which forms 
the southern part of Canaan, be- 
tween the Dead sea and the 
Mediterranean, and which was 
called from them the " mountain 
of the Amorites," and afterwards 
the " mountain of Judah." Deut. 
1:19,20. Num. 13:29. Josh. 
11:3. On the east side of the 
Jordan, also, they had, before 
the time of Moses, founded two 
kingdoms, that of Bashan on the 
north, and the other, bounded c.t 
Srst by the Jabbok, on the south. 
Fut under Sihon they crossed the 
Jabbok, and took from the Am- 
orites and Moabites all the coun- 
try between the Jabbok and the 
Arnon ; so that this latter stream 
now became the southern boun- 



CAN 



[54] 



CAN 



dary of the Amorites. Num. 
21:13,14,26. 32:33,39. Deut. 
4:46,47. 31:4. This last tract 
the Israelites took possession of 
after their victory over Sihon. 
See Amorites. 

6. The Ilittites, or children of 
Heth f according- to the report of 
the spies, Num. 13:29, dwelt 
among - the Amorites, in the 
mountainous district of the south, 
afterwards called the " mountain 
of Judah." In the time of Abra- 
ham they possessed Hebron ; 
and the patriarch purchased from 
them the cave of Machpelah 
as a sepulchre. Gen. c. 23. 
25:9,10. After the Israelites 
entered Canaan, the Hittites 
seem to have moved farther 
northward. The country around 
Bethel (Luz) is called the land 
of the Hittites. Judg. 1 :26. 

7. The Perizzites were found 
in various parts of Canaan. The 
name signifies inhabitants of the 
plains. According to Gen. 13 : 7, 
they dwelt Avith the Canaanites, 
between Bethel and Ai ; and ac- 
cording to Gen. 34:30, in the 
vicinity of Shechem. See Pe- 
rizzites. 

For Simon the Canaanite, see 
Zeeotes. 

CANE, or Calamus, sweet, 
an aromatic reed, mentioned 
among the drugs of which the 
sacred perfumes were com- 
pounded, Exod. 30:23. It is a 
knotty root, of a reddish color, 
and containing a soft, white pith. 
The true odoriferous cane comes 
from India; and the prophets 
speak of it as a foreign commod- 
ity, of great value. Is a. 43:24. 
Jer. 6:20. 

CANKER-WORM, in our 
English Bibles, is put where the 
Hebrew means a species of lo- 
cust. Joel 1:4. Nahum 3:15,16. 

CANTICLES, the Book of 
or the Song of Songs, is most 



probably an allegorical poem, 
founded on the spiritual relations 
which existed between Jehovah 
and the Jewish church, and 
which still exist between Christ 
and his church. 

The following engravings, of 
oriental dresses, serve to illus- 
trate the dresses of the Bride 
and Bridegroom, as described in 
the book of Canticles. The two 
first represent oriental ladies in 
full dress. 




CAP 



[ 55 ] 



CAP 






Of the two following- figures, 
one represents the celebrated 
Nadir Shah of Persia, seated 
on a sort of couch or movable 
throne ; and the other is a like- 
ness of the grand seignior, sul- 
tan Achmet. 







CAPERNAUM, a city on the 
western shore of the sea of Gali- 
lee, on the borders of Zebulun 



and Naphtali, and in which our 
Saviour principally dwelt during 
the three years of his public min- 
istry. Matt. 4:13. Mark 2:1. 
John 6 : 17. Burckhardt, and oth- 
er writers, believe it to have been 
the place now called Talhhewn or 
Tel Hoom, which is upon the edge 
of the sea, from nine to twelve 
miles N. N. E. of Tiberias, and 
where there are ruins indicative 
of a considerable place at some 
former period. 

CAPHTOR is supposed by 
most commentators to be the 
island of Crete. Others think it 
to be Cappadocia. Deut. 2:23. 

CAPPADOCIA, a region of 
Asia, adjoining Pontus, Armenia, 
Phrygia and Galatia. Acts 2:9. 
1 Pet. 1 :1, between the Halys, 
i the Euphrates, and the Euxine. 
Ptolemy mentions the Cappado 
cians, and derives their name 
from a river, Cappadox. They 
were formerly called Leuco-Syri, 
or " White Syrians," in opposi- 
tion to those who lived south of 
the mountains, and more exposed 
to the sun. Such was their char- 
acter for dulness and vice, that 
various epigrams were written 
upon them. Cappadocia was 
also placed first in the proverb 
which cautioned against the three 
K's — Kappadocia, Kilicia and 
Krete. 

CAPTIVITY. God generally 
punished the sins of the Jews by 
captivities or servitudes. The 
first captivity, however, from 
which Moses delivered them, 
should be considered rather as a 
permission of Providence, than 
as a punishment for sin. There 
were six captivities, or rather sub- 
jugations, during the government 
by judges. But the most remarka- 
ble captivities of the Hebrews 
were those of Israel and Judah, 
under the regal government. Is- 
rael was first carried away in part 



CAP 



[56] 



CAR 



by Tiglath-pileser, 2 K. 15:29 3 
and then more fully by Shalma- 
neser, 2 K. 17:6. From this last 
captivity the ten tribes appear 
never to have returned ; but to 
have become mostly incorporated 
and identified with the inhabit- 
ants of the countries whither they 
were transferred, and thus to have 
become lost as an independent 
people. To Judah are generally 
reckoned three captivities : (1.) 
under Jehoiakim, in his third year, 
when Daniel and others were car- 
ried to Babylon. 2 K. 24:1,2. 
Dan. 1:1. — (2.) In the last year 
of Jehoiakim, when Nebuchad- 
nezzar carried 3023 Jews to 
Babylon ; or rather under Jehoia- 
chin, when this prince also, 2 K. 
c. 25. 2 Chr. c. 36, was sent to 
Babylon, i. e. in the seventh and 
eighth years of Nebuchadnezzar. 
2l£. 24:5, &c. 12, &c 2 Chr. 
36:8,9,10. Jer. 52:28.— (3.) Un- 
der Zedekiah. From this pe- 
riod begins the seventy years of 
captivity foretold by the prophet 
Jeremiah. At Babylon they had 
judges and elders who governed 
them, and decided matters in dis- 
pute juridically according to their 



laws. Cyrus, in the first year of 
his reign at Babylon, permitted 
the Jews to return to their own 
country, Ezra 1:1; but they did 
not obtain leave to rebuild the 
temple ; and the completion of 
those prophecies, which foretold 
the termination of their captivity 
after seventy years, was not till 
Darius Hystaspes. by an edict, 
allowed them to rebuild the 
temple. 

CARAVANSERAI, a building 
in the East, which is expressed in 
our version of the Scriptures by 
the term Inn. There appear to 
be three descriptions of these 
buildings. Some are simply 
places of rest, (by the side of a 
fountain, if possible,) which, be- 
ing at proper distances on the 
road, are thus named, though 
they are mere naked walls ; 
others have an attendant, who 
subsists either by some charita- 
ble donation, or the benevolence 
of passengers ; and others are 
more considerable establishments, 
where families reside and take 
care of them, and furnish many 
necessary provisions. Colonel 
Campbell says, '■ Caravanserais 




CAR 



[57] 



CAR 



were originally intended for, and 
are now pretty generally applied 
to, the accommodation of stran- 
gers and travellers, though, like 
every other good institution, 
sometimes perverted to the pur- 
poses of private emolument or 
public job. They are built at 
proper distances through the roads 
of the Turkish dominions, and 
afford to the indigent and weary 
traveller an asylum from the in- 
clemency of the weather. They 
have commonly one story above 
the ground-floor 5 the lower story 
is arched, and serves for ware- 
houses to store goods, for lodg- 
ings, and for stables, while the 
upper is used merely lor lodg- 
ings ; besides which they are al- 
ways accommodated with a foun- 
tain, and have cooks' shops and 
olher conveniences to supply the 
wants of lodgers." 

Khan appears to be the Turkish 
word tor caravanserai. The pre- 
ceding- engraving- gives a view 
of the interior court of one of 
these oriental inns. 

CARBUNCLE, a precious 
stone, like a large ruby, or gar- 
net, of a dark, deep red color, 
something like bullock's blood ; 
said to glitter even in the dark, 
and to sparkle more than the 
ruby : but the carbuncle of the 
ancients is probably the ruby. 

CARCHEMISH, probably the 
same wilh Circesium or Cer- 
cusium, a fortified city on the east 
side of the Euphrates, where the 
river Chaboras enters it. in quite 
the northern part of Mesopota- 
mia. Is. 10:9. Jer. 46:2. 2 Chr. 
35:20. 

I. CARMEL, a city of Judah, 
on a mountain of the same name, 
in the south of Palestine, 10 miles 
east of Hebron. Here Nabal 
the Carmelite, Abigail's husband, 
dwelt. On this mountain Saul, 
returning from his expedition 



against Amalek, erected atrophy. 
1 Sam. 15:12. 

II. CARMEL, a celebrated 
range of hills running north-west 
from the plain of Esdraelon, and 
ending in the promontory, or 
cape, which forms the bay of Ac- 
cho . Its height is about 1500 feet, 
and at its north-eastern loot, runs 
the brook Kishon, and a little far- 
ther north, the river Belus. Jo- 
sephus makes Carmel a part of 
Galilee ; but it rather belonged 
to Manasseh, and to the south of 
Asher. Carmel signifies the vine- 
yard ; and Jerome informs us, 
that this mountain had good pas- 
tures. Mount Carmel is the only 
great promontory upon the coast 
of Palestine. The foot of the 
northern part approaches the 
water, so that, seen from the hills 
north-east of Acre, mount Carmel 
appears as if " dipping his feet 
in the western sea;" farther south 
it retires more inland, so that be- 
tween the mountain and the sea 
there is an extensive plain cover- 
ed with fields and olive-trees. 
Carmel consists rather of several 
connected hills, than of one 
ridge; the northern and eastern 
part being somewhat higher than 
the southern and western. Ma- 
riti describes it as a delightful re- 
gion, and says the good quality 
of its soil is apparent from the 
fact, that so many odorilerous 
plants and flowers, as h3 7 acinths, 
jonquilles, tazettos, anemones, 
&c. grow wild upon the mountain. 
Von Richter says, "Mount Car- 
mel is entirely covered with 
green ; on its summit are pines 
and oaks, and farther down olive 
and laurel-trees ; ever}' where 
plentifully watered. It gives rise 
to a multitude of crystal brooks, 
the largest of which" issues from 
the so called fountain of Elijah; 
and they all hurry along, between 
banks thickly overgrown with 



GAT 



[58] 



CED 



bushes, to the Kishon. Every 
species of tillage succeeds here 
admirably, under this mild and 
cheerful sky. The prospect from 
the summit of the mountain out 
over the gulf of Acre and its fer- 
tile shores, and over the blue 
heights of Lebanon to the White 
cape, is enchanting." Mr. Came 
also ascended the mountain and 
traversed the whole summit, 
which occupied several hours. 
He says, "It is the finest and 
most beautiful mountain in Pales- 
tine, of great length, and in many 
parts covered with trees and 
flowers. On reaching, at last, 
the opposite summit, and coming 
out of a wood, we saw the cele- 
brated plain of Esdraelon be- 
neath, with the river Kishon flow- 
ing through it ; mounts Tabor 
and Hermon were in front ; and 
on the right [S. E.] the prospect 
was bounded by the hills of 
Samaria. This scene certainly 
did not fulfil the descriptions 
given of the desolation and bar- 
renness of Palestine, although it 
was mournful to behold scarcely 
a village or cottage in the whole 
extent ; yet the soil appeared so 
rich and verdant, that, if diligent- 
ly cultivated, there is little doubt 
it would become, as it once was, 
'like the garden of the Lord.'" 

CARPUS, a disciple and 
friend of Paul, who dwelt at 
Troas. 2 Tim. 4:13. 

CATHOLIC. This term is 
Greek, signifying universal or 
general. The church of Christ 
is called catholic, because it ex- 
tends throughout the world, and 
during all time. In modern times 
the church of Rome has usurped 
this title, improperly applying it 
exclusively to itself. 

The Catholic Epistles are 
seven, so called because they 
were addressed to the church or 
Christians in general, and not to 



any particular church. They are, 
one epistle of James, two of 
Peter, three of John, and one of 
Jude. 

CEDAR, a tree greatly cele- 
brated in the Scriptures. A few 
are still standing on mount Leba- 
non, above By bios and Tripoli 
east j but none elsewhere in ihese 
mountains. In former times 
there must have been a great 
abundance of them, since they 
were used in so many extensive 
buildings. These trees are re- 
markably thick and tall ; some 
among them are from thirty-five 
to forty feet in girth. The cedar- 
tree shoots out branches at ten 
or twelve feet from the ground ; 
they are large and distant; its 
leaves are something like those 
of rosemary ; it is always green, 
and distils a kind of gum, to 
which different effects are at- 
tributed. Cedar wood is reputed 
incorruptible ; it is beautiful, solid, 
free from knots, and inclining to a 
red-brown color. The tree bears 
a small cone, like that of the 
pine. This celebrated tree is not 
peculiar to mount Lebanon, 
but grows also upon mounts 
Amanus and Taurus in Asia Mi- 
nor, and in other parts of the Le- 
vant 3 but does not elsewhere 
reach the size and height of those 
on Lebanon. It has also been 
cultivated in the g'ardens of Eu- 
rope ; two venerable individuals 
of this species exist at Chiswick 
in England ; and there is a very 
beautiful one in the Jardin des 
Plantes, in Paris. The beauty 



of this tree consists in the 



propc 



tion and symmetry of its wide- 
spreading branches. The gum, 
which exudes both from the trunk 
and the cones or fruit, is soft like 
balsam: its fragrance is like diat 
of the balsam of Mekka. Every 
thing about this tree has a strong 
balsamic odor; and hence tab 



CEN 



[59] 



CEN 



whole grove is so pleasant and 
fragrant, that it is delightful to 
walk in it. This is probably the 
smell of Lebanon spoken of in 
Cant. 4:11. Hos. 14:6. The 
wood is peculiarly adapted to 
building, because it is not subject 
to decay, nor to be eaten of 
worms ; hence it was much used 
for rafters, and for boards with 
which to cover houses and form 
the floors and ceilings of rooms. 
The palace of Persepolis, the 
temple at Jerusalem, and Solo- 
mon's palace, were all in this 
way built with cedar 5 and the lat- 
ter especially appears to have 
had in it such a quantity of this 
wood, that it was called " the 
house of the forest of Lebanon." 
1 K. 7:2. 10:17. 

Of the forest of cedars which 
once covered Lebanon, only a 
small remnant is left. A single 

f^rove only is now found, lying a 
ittle off from the road which 
crosses mount Lebanon from 
Baalbec to Tripoli, at some dis- 
tance below the summit of the 
mountain on the western side, — 
at the foot, indeed, of the high- 
est summit or ridge of Lebanon. 
This grove consists of a few 
very old trees, intermingled with 
a large number of younger ones. 

The best account of this grove 
is by Messrs. Fisk and King. 
(See Miss. Her. 1824, p. 270.) 
See Lebanon. 

CEDRON. see Kidron. 

CENCHREA, a port of Cor- 
inth, whence Paul sailed for 
Ephesus. Acts 18:18. It was 
situated on the eastern side of I 
the isthmus, about seventy stadia 
from the city. The other port, 
on the western side of the isth- 
mus, was Lechasum. 

CENSER, a vessel in which 
fire and incense were carried in 
certain parts of the Hebrew wor- 
ship. Little is known of its form. 



There are two Hebrew words, 
which are both translated censer 
in our English Bibles. The one 
signifies strictly Jire-pan or coal- 
pan, and was, perhaps, not much 
different, as to form, from a fire- 
shovel. The other signifies in- 
cense-pan, i. e. a vessel for burn- 
ing incense 3 but we do not know 
that it differed in any way from 
the former. In the N. T. also, 
where the twenty-four elders are 
said to have golden vials full of 
odors, Rev. 5:8, the meaning is 
vessels of incense, censers, not 
vials in the present sense of the 
word. 

The censers of heathen wor- 
ship had chains, by which they 
were carried. So those now used 
in the Roman Catholic service. 
Their form is like the following. 




CENTURION, an officer 
commanding a hundred soldiers 5 
similar to our captain in modern 
times. 



CHA 



[60] 



CHA 



CEPHAS, a Syriac name 
given to Peter, which by the 
Greeks was rendered Petros, 
and by the Latins Petrus, both 
signifying- stone, or rock. See 
Peter. 

CESAR, CESAREA, see 
Cesar, Cjesarea. 

CHALCEDONY, a precious 
stone, in color like a carbuncle. 
Rev. 21 : 19. It is said to have 
derived its name from Cho.lce.don, 
a city of Bithynia, opposite to 
Byzantium. It comprises several 
varieties, one of which is the mod- 
ern carneiian. 

CHALDEA, a country in 
Asia, the capital of which, in its 
widest extent, was Babylon. It 
was originally of small extent ; 
but the empire being afterwards 
very much enlarged, the name is 
generally taken in a more exten- 
sive sense, and includes Babylo- 
nia, which see. 

CHALDEANS. This name 
is taken, (1.) for the people of 
Chaldea, and the subjects of that 
empire generally. (2.) For phi- 
losophers, naturalists or sooth- 
sayers, whose principal employ- 
ment was the study of mathe- 
matics and astrology, by which 
they pretended to foreknow the 
destiny of men born under cer- 
tain constellations. 

The Chaldeans were originally 
a warlike people, who at first 
inhabited the Carduchian moun- 
tains, north of Assyria, and the 
northern part of Mesopotamia. 
As the Assyrian monarchs ex- 
tended their conquests towards 
the north and west, the Chalde- 
ans came also under their do- 
minion 5 and this rough and en- 
ergetic people appear to have 
assumed, under the sway of their 
conquerors, a new character, by 
means of the removal of a part of 
them to Babylon, where they 
were probably placed to ward off 



the irruptions of the neighboring 
Arabians. We may suppose, 
too, that some special form of 
government was assigned to 
them, in order to convert them 
from a rude horde into a civilized 
people. That this establishment 
of the Chaldeans in Babylon did 
not take place long before the 
time of Shalmaneser, (about 730 
B. C.) may be inferred from the 
fact, that Isaiah, c.23 : 13, calls the 
Chaldeans a people newly found- 
ed by the Assijrians. A very 
vivid and graphic description of 
the Chaldean warriors is given 
by the prophet Habakkuk, who 
probably lived about the time 
when they first made incursions 
into Palestine or the adjacent re- 
gions, c. 1:6 — 11. They must 
soon have obtained the upper 
hand in the Babylonian kingdom ; 
for both Nebuchadnezzar and his 
father, Nabopolassar, were Chal- 
deans by birth. 

CHALDEE Language, see 
Language. 

CHAMOIS, a species of 
mountain goat, found only in the 
Alps and other lofty and inacces- 
sible mountains. In Deut. 14 : 5, 
the animal, wrongly called cha- 
mois in the English Bible, was 
probablv a species of antelope. 

CHAMBER, Upper, see 
House. 

CHARIOTS of War. Scrip- 
ture speaks of two sorts of these, 
one for princes and generals to 
ride in, the other to break the 
enemy's battalions, by rushing in 
among them, being armed with 
iron, i. e. iron hooks or scythes, 
which made terrible havoc. The 
Canaanites, whom Joshua en- 
gaged at the waters of Merom, 
had horsemen, and a multitude of 
chariots. Josh. 11:4. Sisera, 
general of Jabin, king of Hazor, 
had 900 chariots of iron. 

CHARRAN, see Haran H 



CHE 



[61 ] 



CHO 



CHEBAR, a river of Assyria, 
which falls into the Euphrates, in 
the upper part of Mesopotamia. 
Ezek. 1:1. The same as the 
Chaboras. 

CHEMOSH, the national god 
of the Moabites, and of the Am- 
monites, worshipped also under 
Solomon at Jerusalem. Judg. 
11:24. IK. 11:7. 2 K. 23:13. 
Jer. 48 : 7. Some confound Che- 
mosh with Amnion. 

CHERETHITES, the Philis- 
tines. David, and some of his 
successors, had guards which 
were called CheretJiites and Pe- 
hthites, 2 Sam. 8:18, whose office 
was of the same nature as that of 
capigis among the Turks and 
other orientals, who are bearers 
of the sultan's orders for punish- 
ing any one, by decapitation, or 
otherwise ; an office which is 
very honorable in the East, 
though considered as degrading 
among us. It appears that 
Herod made use of an officer of 
this description in beheading 
John the Baptist. See Pkle- 
thites. 

CHERUB, plural Cherubim, 
a particular order of angels, Ps. 
18 : 10, &c. but more particularly 
those symbolical representations 
which are so often referred to in 
the Old Testament, and in the 
book of Revelation. On no sub- 
ject, perhaps, have there been 
so many unavailing conjec- 
tures as the form and design 
of these figures. Grotius says, 
the cherubim were figures like a 
calf. Bochart and Spencer think 
they were nearly the figure of an 
ox. Josephus says they were 
extraordinary creatures, of a 
figure unknown to mankind. 
Clemens of Alexandria believes 
that the Egyptians imitated the 
cherubim of the Hebrews in their 
sphinxes and hieroglyphical an- 
imals. The descriptions which 
6 



Scripture gives of cherubim 
differ ; but all agree in represent- 
ing a figure composed of various 
creatures — a man, an ox, an 
eagle and a lion. 

CHIOS, an island in the Archi- 
pelago, between Lesbos and Sa- 
mos, on the coast of Asia Minor, 
now called Scio. Paul passed 
this way as he sailed southward 
from Mitylene to Samos. Acts 
20:15. 

CHISLEU, the ninth month of 
the Hebrews, beginning with the 
new moon of December. Neh. 
1:1. Zech. 7:1. Others make 
it equivalent to our November. 

CHITTIM. Writers on Scrip- 
ture antiquities are not agreed as 
to the country or countries im- 
plied under this name. Among 
the three different opinions of 
ancient and modern interpreters, 
according to which they sought 
for the land of the Chittim in Italy, 
Macedonia and Cyprus, the lat- 
ter is the most probable, which 
is also that of Josephus. Ac- 
cording to this, Chittim is the 
island Cyprus, so called from a 
Phoenician colony Citium, in the 
southern part of this island 5 but 
still in such a sense, that this 
name Chittim was at a later pe- 
riod employed also, in a wider 
sense, to designate other islands 
and countries adjacent to the 
coasts of the Mediterranean ; e. g. 
Macedonia. Dan. 11:30. 1 Mac. 
1:1. 8:5. This is also mentioned 
by Josephus. 

CHIUN, the name of an idol 
worshipped by the Israelites in 
the desert. Amos 5:26. Comp. 
Acts 7:43. It was most proba- 
bly the planet Saturn. 

CHORAZIN, a town in Gal- 
ilee, near to Capernaum, not far 
distant from Bethsaida, and, con- 
sequently, on the western shore 
of the sea of Galilee. Pococke 
speaks of a village called Gerasi, 



CHR 



[62] 



CHR 



amonc the hills west of the place 
callea Telhoue, ten or twelve miles 
north-north-east of Tiberias, and 
close to Capernaum. The natives 
call it Chorasi. It is upbraided 
by Christ for its impenitence. 
Matt. 11:21. Luke 10:13. 

CHRIST, a Greek word, an- 
swering to the Hebrew Messiah, 
the consecrated, or anointed one, 
and given preeminently to our 
blessed Lord and Saviour. See 
Messiah. 

The ancient Hebrews, being 
instructed by the prophets, had 
clear notions of the Messiah ; but 
these became gradually deprav- 
ed, so that when Jesus appeared 
in Judea, the Jews entertained a 
false conception of the Messiah, 
expecting a temporal monarch 
and conqueror, who should re- 
move the Roman yoke, and sub- 
ject the whole world. Hence 
they were scandalized at the 
outward appearance, the humil- 
ity and seeming weakness of our 
Saviour. The modern Jews, 
indulging still greater mistakes, 
form to themselves chimerical 
ideas of the Messiah, utterly un- 
known to their forefathers. 

The ancient prophets had fore- 
told, that the Messiah should be 
God and man, exalted and abas- 
ed, master and servant, priest 
and victim, prince and subject ; 
involved in death, yet victor over 
death ; rich and poor ; a king, a 
conqueror, glorious ; a man of 

friefs, exposed to infirmities, un- 
nown, in a state of abjection 
and humiliation. All these con- 
trarieties were to be reconciled 
in the person of the Messiah ; as 
they really were in the person of 
Jesus. 

It is not recorded that Jesus 
ever received any external 
official unction. The unction 
that the prophets and the apostles 
speak of is the spiritual and in- 



ternal unction of grace and of the 
Holy Ghost, of which the out- 
ward unction, with which kings, 
priests and prophets were an- 
ciently anointed, was but the 
figure and symbol. Neverthe- 
less, many have supposed, — and 
we see no objection to it,— that 
when the Spirit visibly descended 
on Jesus at his baptism, he re- 
ceived a peculiar, solemn and 
appropriate unction. 

CHRISTIAN, a name given 
at Antioch to those who believed 
Jesus to be the Messiah. Acts 
11:26. They generally called 
themselves brethren, the' faithful, 
saints, believers ; and were 
named by the Gentiles Naza- 
renes and Galileans. 

CHRONICLES, the name of 
two historical books of the O. T. 
the author of which is not known. 
The first book contains a reca- 
pitulation of sacred history, by 
genealogies, from the beginning 
of the world to the death of Da- 
vid. The second book contains 
the history of the kings of Judah, 
without those of Israel, from the 
beginning of the reign of Solo- 
mon only, to the return from the 
captivity of Babylon. In this 
respect it differs from the books 
of Kings, which give the history 
of the kings of both Judah and 
Israel. In many places, where 
the history of the same kings is 
related, the narrative in Chron- 
icles is almost a copy of that in 
Kings ; in other places, the one 
serves as a supplement to the 
other. In the Septuagint, these 
books are called Paraiipoinena, 
i. e. things omitted. 

CHRYSOLITE, a transpa- 
rent precious stone, having the 
color of gold with a mixture of 
green, and a fine lustre. Rev. 
21:20. Many suppose it to be 
the topaz of the moderns. 

CHRYSOPRASUS, the tenth 



CIN 



[63] 



CIS 



of those precious stones which 
adorned the foundation of the 
heavenly Jerusalem ; its color 
was green, inclining to gold, as 
its name imports. Rev. 21 :20. 

CHURCH. The Greek word 
translated church signifies gener- 
ally an assembly, either common 
or religious ; and it is sometimes 
so translated, as in Acts 19:32, 
39. In the N. T. it usually means 
a congregation of religious wor- 
shippers, either Jewish, as Acts 
7:38; or Christian, as Matt. 
16:18. 1 Cor. 6:4. The latter 
sense is the more common one ; 
and it is thus used in a twofold 
maimer, viz. 

1. The universal Christian 
church ; either the invisible 
church, consisting of those whose 
names are written in heaven, 
whom God knows, but whom we 
cannot know, Heb. 12:23 ; or the 
visible church, made up of the 
professed followers of Christ on 
earth. Col. 1:24. 1 Tim. 3:5,15. 

2. A particular church, or body 
of professing believers, who meet 
and worship together in one 
place ; as the churches of Rome, 
Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, &c. 
to which Paul addressed epistles. 

CILICIA, a province of Asia 
Minor, bounded north by Cappa- 
docia, Lycaonia and Isauria, 
south by the Mediterranean, east 
by Syria, and west by Pam- 
phylia. The western part had 
the appellation of aspera, or 
rough ; while the eastern was 
called campestris, or level. This 
country was the province of 
Cicero when proconsul ; and its 
chief town, Tarsus, was the birth- 
place of the apostle Paul. Acts 
6:9. 15:23,41. 

CINNAMON, one of the in- 
gredients in the perfumed oil 
with which the tabernacle and its 
vessels were anointed. Ex. 
30:23. The cinnamomum is a 



shrub, the bark of which has a 
fine scent. It is now generally- 
agreed that the cinnamomum 
spoken of by the ancients is our 
cinnamon; it is a long, thin bark 
of a tree, rolled up, of a dark red 
color, of a poignant taste, aro- 
matic, and very agreeable. The 
finest description comes from 
Ceylon. 

CIRCUMCISION, properly 
" a cutting around ;" because in 
this rite the foreskin was thus cut 
away. God enjoined Abraham 
to use circumcision, as a sign of 
his covenant, and, in obedience 
to this order, the patriarch, at 
ninety-nine years of age, was 
circumcised, as also his son Ish- 
mael, and all the males of his 
property. Gen. 17:10. God re- 
peated the precept to Moses, 
and ordered that all who intended 
to partake of the paschal sacrifice 
should receive circumcision 5 and 
that this rite should be performed 
on children on the eighth day 
after their birth. The Jews have 
always been very exact in ob- 
serving this ceremony, and it 
appears that they did not neglect 
it when in Egypt. 

All the other nations sprung 
from Abraham, besides the He- 
brews, as the Ishmaelites, the 
Arabians, &c. also retained the 
practice of circumcision. At the 
present day it is an essential rite 
of the Mahommedan religion, and 
prevails wherever this religion is 
found. 

The Jews esteemed the foreskin 
or uncircumcision as a very great 
impurity ; and the greatest of- 
fence they could receive was to be 
called " uncircumcised." Paul 
frequently mentions the Gentiles 
under this term, Rom. 2:26, in 
opposition to the Jews, whom he 
names " the circumcision." 

CISTERN. There were cis- 
terns throughout Palestine, in 



CL A 



[64] 



c o c 



cities and in private houses. As 
the cities were mostly built on 
mountains, and the rains fall in 
Judeaat two seasons only, (spring 
and autumn,) people were obliged 
to keep water in vessels. There 
are cisterns of very large dimen- 
sions, at this day, in Palestine. 
Two hours distant from Bethle- 
hem are the cisterns or pools of 
Solomon. They are three in 
number, situated in the sloping 
hollow of a mountain, one above 
another ; so that the waters of 
the uppermost descend into the 
second, and those of the second 
descend into the third. The 
breadtl is nearly the same in all, 
between eighty and ninety paces, 
but the length varies. The first 
is about 160 paces long ; the 
second, 200 j the third, 220. 
These pools formerly supplied 
the town of Bethlehem and the 
city of Jerusalem with water. 
Dr. Jowett says, " The cities and 
villages have supplies of water, 
and in every stage of seven or 
eight hours, there are usually 
found, once or twice, at least, 
cisterns or muddy wells. In 
some places, a person at the well 
claimed payment for the water, 
which he drew for us and our 
animals ; but this was probably 
an imposition, although by us 
willingly paid." 

CLAUDIUS, emperor of 
Rome. Acts 18:2. He succeed- 
ed Caligula, and was followed by 
Nero, after a reign of thirteen 
years. See Cjesar. 

CLAUDIUS Felix, govern- 
or or procurator of Judea. He 
married Drusilla, the sister of the 
younger Agrippa. Paul being 
brought to Ccesarea, Felix treat- 
ed him well, permitted his friends 
to see him, and to render him ser- 
vices, hoping he would procure 
his redemption by a sum of 
money. Acts 24:22, &c. Felix, 



with his wife Drusilla, who was a 
Jewess, having desired Paul to 
explain the religion of Jesus 
Christ, the apostle spoke with his 
usual boldness, and discoursed to 
them concerning justice, chastity, 
and the last judgment. Felix, 
being terrified, remanded the 
apostle to his confinement, and 
detained him two years at Caesa- 
rea, to oblige the Jews. He was 
recalled to Rome, A. D. 60, and 
was succeeded by Portius Festus. 
CLEAN is often used in the 
Bible in a ceremonial sense, i. e. 
ceremonially pure, not under any 
defilement according to the law 
of Moses. 

CLEMENT, mentioned in 
Philemon 4 : 3. Most interpreters 
conclude that this is the same 
Clement who succeeded in the 

government of the church at 
,ome, commonly called Clemens 
Romanies. The church at Cor- 
inth having been disturbed by 
divisions, Clement wrote a letter 
to the Corinthians, which was so 
much esteemed by the ancients, 
that they read it publicly in many 
churches. It is still extant, and 
some have inclined to rank it 
among the canonical writings. 

CLEOPHAS, the husband of 
Mary, sister to the Virgin Mary. 
John 19:25. By comparing this 
passage with Luke 24:10, it ap- 
pears that the wife of Cleophas 
is the same with the mother of 
James the less, Mark 15:40; but 
in Matt. 10:3, James is said to be 
the son of Alphetis. Cleophas 
and Alpheus are, therefore, the 
same person. The Cleopas men- 
tioned in Acts 24: 18, mayor may 
not be the same. 

CLOTHES, see Dresses. 

COCK-CROWING, a divis- 
ion of time. See Hour. 

COCKATRICE, a fabulous 
species of serpent, supposed to 
be hatched from the fabulous 



CON 



[65 j 



COO 



egg of a cock. The Hebrew 
word means a venomous serpent. 

COCKLE, a weed growing 
among wheat. Job 31:40. The 
word signifies weeds in general, 
" noisome weeds." 

COLOSSE, a city of Phrygia 
Major, situated on a hill near the 
junction of the Lye us with the 
Meander, and not far from the 
cities Hierapolis and Laodicea. 
With these cities it was destroy- 
ed by an earthquake in the tenth 
year of Nero, about A. D. 65, 
and, therefore, while Paul was yet 
living. The church of Chris- 
tians in this city, to whom Paul 
wrote, seems to have been gath- 
ered by Epaphras. Col. 1:2. 
Comp. 5:7,8,9, and 4:12,13. In 
modern times the place is called 
Konos. 

COMFORTER, {Paraclete,) 
an exhorter, defender, interceder. 
This title is given to the Hcly 
Spirit by our Saviour, John 14: 
16, and John gives it to our Sa- 
viour himself; "We have an ad- 
vocate (paraclete) with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 
John 2:1. But the title is chiefly 
given to the Holy Spirit. 

COMMON, profane, ceremo^ 
nially unclean. Mark 7: 2,5. Acts 
10:14.15. Rom. 14:14. 

CONCUBINE, a term which, 
in modern authors, commonly sig- 
nifies a woman who, without being 
married to a man, lives with him 
as his wife : but, in the sacred wri- 
ters, the word concubine is under- 
stood in another sense ; meaning 
a lawful wife, but one of the sec- 
ond rank ; inferior to the first 
wife, or mistress of the house. 
She differed from a proper wife 
in that she was not married by 
solemn stipulation, but only be- 
trothed; she brought no dowry 
with her, and had no share in 
the government of the family. 

CONEY is an old name for 
6* 



the rabbit ; but the animal meant 
in the Bible seems not to be the 
rabbit. It is described as chew- 
ing the cud, Lev. 11:5, as in- 
habiting mountains and rocks, 
Ps. 104:18, and as gregarious 
and sagacious, Prov. 30:26. 
All these seem best to designate 
the Arabian jerboa, or mountain 
rat. It is about the size of a 
large rat ; the hind feet are very 
long, and enable them to make 
prodigious bounds ; and with 
their fore feet they carry food to 
their mouths like the squirrel. 
They burrow in hard, clayey 
ground, not only in high and dry 
spots, but also even in low and 
salt places. They dig holes with 
their fore feet, forming oblique 
and winding burrows of some 
yards in length, ending in a large 
hole or nest, in which a store of 
provision, consisting of herbs, is 
preserved. These burrows are 
concealed and defended with 
great sagacity; indeed, the He- 
brew name implies cunning. At 
the approach of danger, they 
spring forward so swiftly, that a 
man well mounted can hardly 
overtake them. 




CONIAH, see Jehoiachin. 

COOS, a small island of the 

Grecian Archipelago, at a short 



COR 



[66] 



COR 



distance from the south-west point 
of Lesser Asia. 1 Mac. 15:23. 
Paul passed it in his voyage to 
Jerusalem. Acts 21 : 1. It is now 
c?l)ed Stan-co. It was celebrated 
for its fertility, for the wine and 
silk-worms which it produced, 
and for the manufacture of silk 
and cotton of a beautiful texture. 

COPPER, one of the primi- 
tive metals, and the most ductile 
and malleable after gold and sil- 
ver. Of this metal and lapis cala- 
minaris is made brass, which is 
a modern invention. There is 
little doubt but that copper is in- 
tended in those passages of our 
translation of the Bible which 
speak of brass. Copper was 
known prior to the flood, and 
was wrought by Tubal Cain. 
Gen. 4:22. 

CORAL, a hard, cretaceous, 
marine production, produced by 
the labors of millions of insects, 
and resembling in figure the stem 
of a plant, divided into branches. 
It is of various colors, black, 
white and red. The latter is the 
most valuable. It is ranked by 
the author of the book of Job, 
28 : 18, and by the prophet Eze- 
kiel, 27:16, among precious 
stones. 

CORBAN, a gift, a present 
made to God, or to his temple. 
The Jews sometimes swore by 
corban, or by gifts offered to God. 
Matt. 23:18. Our Saviour re- 
proaches the Jews with cruelty 
towards their parents, in making 
a corban of what should have 
been appropriated to their use. 
Matthew gives this reply from 
children to their parents : " It is 
a gift — whatsoever thou mightest 
be profited by me," i. e. I have 
already devoted to God that 
which you request of me. Mark 
7:11. This might take place in 
particular articles, without the 
child's whole property being so 



devoted ; or it might be a pre- 
tence to put off the soliciting pa- 
rent for the time. This the Jew- 
ish doctors esteemed binding, yet 
easily remitted ; and though such 
a vow is against both nature and 
reason, yet the Pharisees, and 
the Talmudists, their successors, 
approve it. They permitted even 
debtors to defraud their creditors, 
by consecrating their debt to 
God ; as if the property were 
their own, and not rather the right 
of their creditor. 

CORIANDER, a small, round 
seed of an aromatic plant. Mo- 
ses says, that the manna which 
fell in the wilderness was like 
coriander-seed ; its color was 
white. Exod. 16:31. Numb. 
11:7. See Manna. 

CORINTH, the capital of 
Achaia, called anciently Ephyra, 
and seated on the isthmus which 
separates the Peloponnesus from 
Attica, and hence called bimaris, 
on two seas. The city itself 
stood a little inland, but it had 
two ports, Lechaeum on the west, 
and Cenchrea on the east. It 
was one of the most populous 
and wealthy cities of Greece ; 
but its riches produced pride, os- 
tentation, effeminacy, and all the 
vices generally consequent on 
plenty. Lasciviousness, particu- 
larly, was not only tolerated, but 
consecrated here, by the worship 
of Venus, and the notorious pros- 
titution of numerous attendants 
devoted to her. Such was here 
the expense at which these pleas- 
ures were procured, as to be- 
come proverbial. Corinth was 
destroyed by the Romans, B. C. 
146 ; and during the conflagra- 
tion, several metals in a fused 
state accidentally running to- 
gether, produced the composi- 
tion named SEs CorintMum, or 
Corinthian brass. It was after- 
wards restored by Julius Csesar, 



COR 



[67] 



COR 



who planted in it a Roman col- 
ony ; but while it soon regained 
its ancient splendor, it also re- 
lapsed into all its former dissipa- 
tion and licentiousness. Paul 
arrived at Corinth, A. D. 52, 
Acts 18:1, and lodged with 
Aquila and his wife Priscilla, 
who, as well as himself, were 
tent-makers. 

CORINTHIANS. There are 
two epistles extant which Paul 
wrote to the Corinthians, in order 
to convince them of the errors into 
which false teachers were lead- 
ing- them, and to defend and es- 
tablish the doctrines which he had 
preached to them. 

CORMORANT, a water-bird, 
about the size of a goose. It 
lives on fish, which it catches with 
great dexterity ; and is so vora- 
cious and greedy, that its name 
has passed into a kind of prover- 
bial use. Lev. 11:17. 

CORN, in the Bible, is the 
general word for grain of all 
kinds. It never means, as with 
us, simply maize, or Indian corn. 
Palestine was anciently very fer- 
tile in grain, which furnished in 
a great measure the support of 
the inhabitants. Their methods 
of preparing it for the manufac- 
ture of bread were the following: : 



The threshing was done either by 
the staff or the flail, Isa. 28:27, 
28; by the feet of cattle, Deut. 
25:4; or by" a sharp threshing in- 
strument having teeth," Isa. 41 : 
15, which was something resem- 
bling a cart, and drawn over the 
corn by means of horses or oxen. 
See Threshing When the 
corn is threshed, it is separated 
from the chaff and dust, by 
throwing it forward across the 
wind, by means of a winnowing 
fan, or shovel, Matt. 3:12; after 
which the grain is sifted, to sepa- 
rate all impurities from it. Amos 
9:9. Luke 22:31. Hence we 
see that the threshing-floors were 
in the open air. Judg. 6:11. 2 
Sam. 24 : 18. The grain thus ob- 
tained was commonly reduced to 
meal by the hand-mill, which 
consisted of a lower mill-stone, 
the upper side of which was con- 
cave, and an upper mill-stone, 
the lower surface of which was 
convex. The hole for receiving 
the corn was in the centre of the 
upper mill-stone ; and in the ope- 
ration of grinding, the lower was 
fixed , and the upper made to mo ve 
round upon it, with considerable 
velocity, by means of a handle. 
These mills are still in use in the 
East, and in some parts of Scot- 




COR 



[68] 



cov 



land. Dr. E. D. Clarke says, 
" In the island of Cyprus 1 ob- 
served upon the ground the sort 
of stones used for grinding corn, 
called querns in Scotland, com- 
mon also in Lapland, and in all 
parts of Palestine. These are 
the primeval mills of the world ; 
and they are still found in all corn 
countries, where rude and ancient 
customs have not been liable to 
those changes introduced by re- 
finement. The employment of 
grinding with these mills is con- 
fined solely to females ; and the 
practice illustrates the prophetic 
observation of our Saviour, con- 
cerning the day of Jerusalem's 
destruction : Two women shall 
be grinding at the mill ; one shall 
be taken and the other left." 
Matt. 24:41. The women always 
accompany the grating noise of 
the stones with their voices ; and 
when ten or a dozen are thus em- 
ployed, the fury of the song rises 
to a high pitch. As the opera- 
tion of grinding was usually 
performed in the morning at 
day-break, the noise of the fe- 
males at the hand-mill was heard 
all over the city, which often 
awoke their more indolent mas- 
ters. The Scriptures mention 
the want of this noise as a mark 
of desolation, in Jer. 25:10, and 
Rev. 18:22. 

CORNER-STONE. Our Lord 
is compared in the N. T. to a cor- 
ner-stone, in three different points 
of view. First, as this stone 
lies at the foundation and serves 
to give support and strength to 
the building, so Christ, or the 
doctrine of a Saviour, is called 
the chief corner-stone, Eph. 2:20, 
because this doctrine is the most 
important feature of the Christian 
religion, and is the fundamental 
object of all the precepts given 
Dy the apostles and other Chris- 
tian teachers. Further, as the 



corner-stone occupies an impor- 
tant and conspicuous place, Jesus 
is compared to it, 1 Pet. 2:6, be- 
cause God has made him distin- 
guished, and has advanced him 
to a dignity and conspicuousness 
above all others. Lastly, since 
men often stumble against a pro- 
jecting corner-stone, Christ is 
therefore so called, Matt. 21:42, 
because his gospel will be the 
cause of aggravated condemna- 
tion to those who reject it. 

COTTON is spoken of in the 
O. T. as in Ex. 25:4, where the 
English version has fine linen. 
The fine byssus, a cotton cloth of 
the Egyptians, to judge of the 
specimens found on mummies, 
was much like the sheetings of the 
present day ; certainly not finer. 
See Flax. 

COUCH, see Bed. 

COUNCIL is occasionally 
taken for any kind of assembly j 
sometimes for that of the Sanhe- 
drim ; at others, for a convention 
of pastors met to regulate eccle- 
siastical affairs. Thus the as- 
sembly of the apostles, &c. at 
Jerusalem, Acts c. 15, met to 
determine whether the yoke of 
the law should be imposed on 
Gentile converts, is commonly 
reputed to be the first council of 
the Christian church. See San- 
hedrim. 

COURT, an enclosed space 
or yard within the limits of an 
oriental house. For the courts 
of the temple, see Temple. The 
tabernacle, also, had a court. 
All oriental houses are built in 
the form of a hollow square 
around a court. See House. 

COVENANT. The word tes- 
tamentum is often used in Latin 
to express the Hebrew word 
which signifies covenant ; whence 
the titles Old and New Testa- 
ments are used improperly to de- 
note the Old and New Covenants. 



CRE 



[69] 



CRO 



A covenant is properly an 
agreement between two parties. 
Vvhere one of the parties is infi- 
nitely superior to the other, as in 
a covenant between God and 
man, there God's covenant as- 
sumes the nature of a promise. 
The first covenant with the He- 
brews was made when the Lord 
chose Abraham and his posterity 
for his people; a second cove- 
nant, or a solemn renewal of the 
former, was made at Sinai, com- 

f>rehending all who observe the 
aw of Moses. The new covenant, 
of which Christ is the Mediator 
and Author, and which was con- 
firmed by his blood, comprehends 
all who "believe in him, and are 
in his church. 

In common discourse, we usu- 
ally say the Old and New Testa- 
ments, or Covenants; the cov- 
enant between God and the 
posterity of Abraham ; and that 
which he has made with believers 
by Jesus Christ ; because these 
two covenants contain eminently 
all the rest, which are conse- 
quences, branches or explana- 
tions of them. The most solemn 
and perfect of the covenants of 
God with men, is that made 
through the mediation of our 
Redeemer; which must subsist 
to the end of time. The Son of 
God is the guarantee of it ; it is 
confirmed with his blood ; the end 
and object of it is eternal life, and 
:ts constitution and laws are infi- 
nitely more exalted than those of 
the former covenant. 

CRACKNELS, a sort of bard 
brittle cakes. 1 K. 14:3. 

CRETE, a large island, now 
called Candia, in the Mediter- 
ranean, 1 Mac. 10:67, almost 
opposite to Egypt ; and it may 
be considered as having been 
originally peop ed from thence, 
probably by a branch of the 
Caphtorim. It is celebrated by 



Homer for its hundred cities. 
Being surrounded by the sea, its 
inhabitants were excellent sailors, 
and its vessels visited all coasts. 
They were also famous for arch- 
ery, which they practised from 
their infancy. The Cretans were 
one of the three K's against 
whose unfaithfulness the Grecian 
proverb cautioned — Kappadocia, 
Kilicia and Krete. It appears, 
also, that the character of this 
people for lying was thoroughly 
established in ancient times ; for 
in common speech, the expression 
"to Cretanize" signified to tell 
lies ; which helps to account for 
that detestable character which 
the apostle, Tit. 1:12, has given 
of the Cretans, that they were 
"always liars." 

CRISPING-PINS were curl- 
ing irons for curling the hair. Isa. 
3:22. 

CROSS, a kind of gibbet made 
of pieces of wood placed trans- 
versely ; whether crossing at 
right angles, one at the top of the 
other, or in the middle, or diago- 
nally, or fork-wise. Death by 
the cross was a punishment of the 
meanest slaves, and was a mark 
of infamy. This punishment was 
so common among the Romans, 
that pains, afflictions, troubles, 
&c. were called crosses. Our 
Saviour says, that his disciple 
must take up his cross and follow 
him. The cross is the sign of 
ignominy and sufferings ; yet it 
is the badge and glory of the 
Christian. 

The common way of crucifying 
was by fastening the criminal 
with nails, one through each 
hand, and one through both his 
feet, or one at each foot. Some- 
times they were bound with cords, 
which, though it seems gentler, 
because it occasions less pain, 
was really more cruel, because 
the sufferer was hereby made to 



CUB 



[70] 



cue 



languish longer. Sometimes they 
used both nails and cords for 
fastenings 5 and when this was 
the case, there was no difficulty 
in lifting up the person, together 
with his cross, he being sufficient- 
ly supported by the cords. Be- 
fore they nailed him to the cross, 
they generally scourged him with 
whips, or leathern thongs, which 
was thought more severe, and 
more infamous, than scourging 
with cords. Slaves, who had 
been guilty of great crimes, were 
fastened to a gibbet or cross ; 
and were thus led about the city, 
and beaten. Our Saviour was 
loaded with his cross ; and, as 
he sunk under the burden, Simon 
the Cyrenian was constrained to 
bear it after him. and with him. 
Mark 15:21. 

Sometimes those who were 
fastened upon the cross lived 
long in that condition 5 from three 



to nine days. Hence, Pilate was 
amazed at our Saviour's dying so 
soon, because naturally he must 
have lived longer. Mark 15:44. 
The legs of the two thieves were 
broken, to hasten their death, 
that their bodies might not re- 
main on the cross on the sabbath 
day ; but among other nations, 
they were suffered to continue 
long ; sometimes, till they were 
devoured alive by birds and 
beasts of prey. 

CRUCIFY, see Cross. 

CRUSE, a small vessel for 
holding water and other liquids. 
1 Sam. 26:11. In the following 
figures, A represents a kind of 
flask common, at the present day, 
in the East 5 and which, on jour- 
neys, is covered with a wicker 
case, as in B. Figure C is also 
a travelling cruse or flask; and 
others are also found in the East 
of the form D. 




CRYSTAL. The same He- 
brew word is rendered by our 
translators, crystal, Ezek. 1:22; 
frost, Gen. 31 :40; and ice, Job 
6 : 16, &c. The word primarily 
denotes ice, and the name is given 
to a perfectly transparent and 
glass-like gem, from its resem- 
blance to this substance. 

CUBIT, a measure used among 
the ancients. A cubit was origi- 
nally the distance from the elbow 
to the extremity of the middle 



finger, which is the fourth part of 
a well-proportioned man's stat- 
ure. The Hebrew cubit, accord- 
ing to some, is twenty-one inches ; 
but others fix it at eighteen. The 
Talmudists observe, that the He- 
brew cubit was larger, by one 
quarter, than the Roman. 

CUCUMBER, a vegetable 
very plentiful in the East, espe- 
cially in Egypt, Num. 11:5, 
where they are esteemed delica- 
cies, and form a great part of the 



cus 



[71] 



CYM 



food of the lower class of people, 
especially during the hot months. 
The Egyptian cucumber is sim- 
ilar in lorm to our cucumber, but 
larger, being usually a foot in 
length. It is described by Has- 
selquist as greener, smoother, 
softer, sweeter, and more digest- 
ible than our cucumber. He 
also says, that it grows in perfec- 
tion around Cairo, especially 
after the inundations of the Nile. 
In other parts of Egypt it is less 
cultivated, because it does not 
succeed so well. They are not 
watery, but rather of a firm sub- 
stance, like melons, with a sweet- 
ish and refreshing taste. In sum- 
mer they are brought upon the 
tables of the great, and of the 
Europeans in Egypt, as the best 
and most pleasant refreshment, 
and from which no ill conse- 
quences are to be apprehended. 

CUMMIN, a plant much like 
fennel, and which produces blos- 
soms and branches in an umbel- 
lated form. Our Lord reproved 
the scribes and Pharisees for so 
very carefully paying tithe of 
mint, anise and cummin, and yet 
neglecting good works and the 
more essential obedience to God's 
law. Matt. 23:23. 

CUP. This word is taken in 
Scripture both in a proper and in 
a figurative sense. In a proper 
sense, it signifies a common cup, 
such as is used for drinking out 
of at meals ; or a cup of ceremo- 
ny, as used at solemn and reli- 
gious meals ; as at the passover, 
when the father of the family pro- 
nounced certain blessings over 
the cup, and, having tasted it, 
passed it round to the company 
and his whole family, who partook 
of it. In a figurative sense, cup 
generally imports afflictions or 
punishments. 

CUSH, the countries peopled 
by the descendants of Cush, and 



generally translated in the Eng- 
lish Bible Ethiopia, though not 
always. But under this name 
there seem to be included not 
less than three different countries, 
viz. 

1. The oriental Cush, compre- 
hending the regions of Persis, 
Chusistan and Susiana, in Persia. 
Cholcis also belonged to it. It 
lay chiefly to the eastward of the 
Tigris. Hither we must refer the 
river Gihon, Gen. 2:13. See 
Eden. 

2. The Hebrews also used 
Cush to designate the southern 
parts of Arabia, principally along 
the coast of the Red sea. From 
this country originated Nimrod, 
who conquered Babel. Gen. 10: 8. 
The Ethiopian woman, too/whom 
Moses married during the march 
of the Israelites through the des- 
ert, came, probably, from this 
Cush.. Num. 12:1. 

3. But, more commonly, Cush 
signifies Ethiopia proper, lying 
south and south-east of Egypt, 
and now called Abyssinia. Jer. 
13:23. Ezek. 29:10. 

CUTHITES, a people who 
dwelt beyond the Euphrates, and 
were from thence transplanted 
into Samaria, in place of the 
Israelites, who had before inhab- 
ited it. They came from the land 
of Cush, or Cutha, in the East ; 
their first settlement being in the 
cities of the Medes, subdued by 
Shalmaneser and his predeces- 
sors. (See Cush.) The Israel- 
ites were substituted for them in 
those places. 2 K. 17 : 24,30. 

CYMBAL, a musical instru- 
ment consisting of two broad 
plates of brass, of a convex form, 
which, being struck together, pro- 
duce a shrill, piercing sound. 
They were used in the temple, 
and upon occasions of public 
rejoicings, 1 Chr. 16:5, as they 
are by the Armenians at the 



DAG 



[72] 



DAL 



present day. In 1 Cor. 13 : 1, the 
apostle deduces a comparison 
from sounding brass and tinkling 
cymbals ; perhaps the latter 
words had been better rendered 
clattering cymbals ; since such 
is the nature of the instrument. 

CYPRUS, the largest island 
in the Mediterranean, situated 
between Cilicia and Syria j the 
inhabitants of which were plunged 
in all manner of luxury and de- 
bauchery. Their principal deity 
was Venus, who had a celebrated 
temple at Paphos. The island 
is extremely fertile, and abounded 
in wine, oil, honey, wool, copper, 
agate, and a beautiful species of 
rock crystal. There were also 
large forests of cypress-trees. 
Of the cities in the island, Paphos 
and Salamis are mentioned in the 
N. T. The apostles Paul and 
Barnabas landed here, A. D. 44. 
Acts 13:4. 

CYRENE, a city and province 
of Libya, west of Egypt, between 
the great Syrtes and the Mare- 
otis, at present called Cairoan, 
in the province of Barca. It was 
sometimes called Pentapolis, 
from the five principal cities 
which it contained — Cyrene, 
Apollonia, Arsinoe, Berenice and 



Ptolemais. From hence came 
Simon the Cyrenian, father of 
Alexander and Rufus, on whom 
the Roman soldiers laid a part of 
our Saviour's cross. Matt. 27 : 32. 
Luke 23:26. There were many 
Jews in the province of Cyrene, a 
great part of' whom embraced the 
Christian religion, though others 
opposed it with much obstinacy. 

CYRENIUS, or P. Sulpitius 
Quirinus, according to his 
Latin appellation, governor of 
Syria. Luke 2:2. 

CYRUS, son of Cambyses 
king of Persia, and Mandane, 
daughter of Astyages king of the 
Medes. He aided his uncle Cy- 
axares (called Darius the Mede 
in the Bible) in conquering Asia 
Minor ; and afterwards their 
joint forces captured Babylon 
and overran the Assyrian em- 
pire. He married his cousin, 
the daughter of Cyaxares ; and 
thus, at length, inherited and 
united the crowns of Persia and 
Media. Cyrus was foretold by 
the prophet Isaiah, 44:28. 45:1, 
&.c. as the deliverer and restorer 
of Judah, as he proved to be. 
2 Chr. 36:22,23. Ezra 1:1,2, 
&c. The prophet Daniel was 
his favorite minister. Dan. 6:28. 



D. 



DAGON, a god of the Philis- 
tines. Some suppose that Dagon 
was Saturn 3 others say, he was 
Jupiter ; others say, Venus, whom 
the Egyptians worshipped under 
the form of a fish. Diodorus 
Siculus says, that at Askelon the 
goddess Derceto, or Atergatis, 
Was worshipped under the figure 
of a woman, with the lower parts 
like a fish ; and Lucian describes 
that goddess, or Venus, as being 
adored under this form. The 



truth is, that the name Dagon 
signifies, in Hebrew, a large fish; 
and, most probably, this god was 
originally the same with Astarte 
Or Ashtaroth, which see. 

DALMANUTHA, a town or 
village near the city of Magdala. 
Mark 8: 10. Comp. Matt. 15:39. 
The situation of these places is 
uncertain. Some suppose them 
to have been on the south-eastern 
coast of the lake of Gennesa- 
reth. beyond the Jordan 5 others, 



DAM 



[73] 



DAN 



on the western shore of the lake, 
a little north of Tiberias. 

DALMATIA, a province of 
Europe on the east of the Adriat- 
ic sea, and forming- part of Illyr- 
icum. It was contiguous to 
Macedonia, Upper Moesia and 
Liburnia, from which latter it 
was divided by the river Titius. 
Hither Titus was sent by Paul 
to spread the knowledge of 
Christianitv. 2 Tim. 4:10. 

DAMASCUS, a celebrated 
city of Syria, first mentioned 
Gen. 14:15, and now probably 
the oldest city on the globe. It 
stands on the river Barrada, the 
ancient Chrysorrhoas, in a beau- 
tiful and most fertile plain on the 
east and south-east of Antiliba- 
nus, open to the south and east, 
and bounded on the other sides 
by the mountains. The region 
around it, including probably the 
valley between the ridges of 
Libanus and Antilibanus, is 
called in th« Scriptures Syria of 
Damascus, 2 Sam. 8:5, and by 
Strabo, Ccelesyria. This city, 
which at first had its own kings, 
was taken by David, 1 Sam. 8:5, 
6, and by Jeroboam II, 2 Kings 
14:28, and was afterwards sub- 
ject to the Assyrians, 2 K. 16:9, 
Babylonians, Persians, the Seleu- 
cidae, and the Romans. In the 
days of Paul it appears to have 
been held, for a time at least, by 
Aretas, king of Arabia Petraea, 
the father-in-law of Herod Anti- 
pas. At this period the city was 
so much thronged by the Jews, 
that, according to Josephus, 
10,000 of them, by command of 
Nero, were put to death at once. 
Acts 9:2. 22:5. The city is 
now called by the Arabs De- 
meshk and El Shams. It is still 
celebrated, with the surrounding 
country, by all travellers, as one 
of the most beautiful and luxuri- 
ant regions in the world. The 
7 



orientals themselves call it the 
Paradise on earth. The Via 
Recta, or street called Straight, 
Acts 9:11, extends from the 
eastern to the western gate, 
about a league, crossing the 
whole city and suburbs in a di- 
rect line. 

DAMNATION, the state of 
being excluded from God's 
mercy, and condemned to the 
everlasting punishment of the 
wicked. This is now the sense 
of the word damnation, in our 
language ; but at the time when 
the Bible was translated, it had 
not so strong a meaning, and 
signified just the same as condem- 
nation, and no more. The 
words damn and damnation 
ought, therefore, to be still so un- 
derstood, in such passages as 
Rom. 13:2. 14:23. 1 Cor. 11: 
29, &c. 

DAN, the fifth son of Jacob, 
Gen. 30:4; also the name of a 
city originally called Laish, 
Judg. 18:29, at the northern ex- 
tremity of Israel, in the tribe of 
Naphtali. " From Dan to Beer 
sheba" denotes the two extrem 
ities of the land of promise, Dan 
being the northern city, and 
Beersheba the southern one. 
Dan was seated at the foot of 
mount Libanus, on the spring of 
Dan, or Jordan. Several authors 
have thought that the river Jordan 
took its name from the Hebrew 
Jor, a spring, and Dan, a town 
near its source. (See Jordan.) 
Dan lay four miles from Paneas, 
towards Tyre, though some have 
confounded it with Paneas. See 
Cesarea Philippi. 

DANIEL, called Belteshazzar 
by the Chaldeans, a prophet de- 
scended from the royal family of 
David, who was carried captive 
to Babylon, when very yourig, 
in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 
king of Judah. He was phosen, 



DAR 



[74] 



DAV 



with his three companions ; Han- 
aniah, Mishael and Azariah, to 
reside at Nebuchadnezzar's court, 
where he received a suitable ed- 
ucation, and made great progress 
in all the sciences of the Chalde- 
ans, but declined to pollute him- 
self, by eating provisions from 
the king's table. He afterwards 
became greatly distinguished by 
interpreting the dreams of Nebu- 
chadnezzar and Belshazzar, for 
which he was raised to the high- 
est offices. After the capture of 
Babylon by the Medes and Per- 
sians under Cyaxares and Cyrus, 
Daniel was continued in all his 
high employments, and eitjoyed 
the favor of these princes until 
his death, except at one short in- 
terval, when the envy of the other 
officers prevailed on the king to 
cast him into the lions' den, which, 
however, recoiled upon them to 
their own destruction. 

The book of Daniel narrates 
(he history of his life, and con- 
tains many predictions respecting 
the Messiah and his kingdom. 
He saw all these things in vision ; 
and describes his visions very 
fully. (See under Darius II.) 
Part of the book of Daniel is 
written in Chaldee 5 the rest in 
Hebrew, like the other books of 
the O. T. 

I. DARIUS THE MEDE, 
spoken of in Daniel, c. 5:31. 
9:1. 11:1, was son of Astyages 
king of the Medes, and brother 
of Mandane, mother of Cyrus, 
and of Amyit, the mother of Evil- 
merodach and grandmother of 
Belshazzar : thus he was uncle, 
by the mother's side, to Evil-me- 
rodach and to Cyrus. The He- 
brew generally calls him Darius ; 
the LXX, Artaxerxes ; and 
Xenophon, Cyaxares. 

II. DARIUS CODOMANUS 
was one of the most handsome 
men in the Persian empire ; and 



at the same time the most brave 
and generous of the Persian 
kings. Alexander the Great de- 
feated Darius several times, and 
at length subverted the Persian 
monarchy, after it had been es- 
tablished 206 years. Darius 
was killed by his own generals, 
after a short reign of six years. 
Thus were verified theprophecies 
of Daniel, c. 8, who had foretold 
the enlargement of the Persian 
monarchy, under the symbol of 
a ram, butting with its horns, 
westward, northward and south- 
ward, which nothing could resist : 
and its destruction by a goat 
having a very large horn between 
his eyes, (Alexander the Great,) 
coming from the West, and over- 
running the world without touch- 
ing the earth. Springing forward 
with impetuosity, he ran against 
the ram with all his force, at- 
tacked him with fury, broke his 
two horns, and trampled him 
under foot, without any one being 
able to rescue him. Nothing 
can be added to the clearness of 
these prophecies. 

DATE, the fruit of the palm- 
tree. See Palm. 

DAVID, one of the most re- 
markable men in either sacred or 
profane history. His first ap- 
pearance is as a shepherd youth, 
who alone of all Israel ventures 
to accept the challenge of the 
proud Goliath, and vanquishes 
him in mortal combat. After- 
wards God led him on to become 
a mighty warrior, the ruler and 
king over all Israel, and the 
founder of a royal family, which 
continued till the downfall of the 
Jewish state. But notwithstand- 
ing his external pomp and power, 
David is best known and honored 
for his piety, and as being " the 
man after God's own heart." 
He indeed was guilty of great 
sins 5 but he humbled himself in 



DEA 



[75] 



DEB 



the dust on account of them, and 
God forgave him. His royal 
race was spiritually revived in 
the person of our Saviour, who 
was descended from him after 
the flesh, and who is therefore 
called " the Son of David," and 
is said to sit upon his throne. 
His history is chiefly found in 
the two books of Samuel and the 
first book of Chronicles. A very 
large portion of the book of 
Psalms is by him. He was dis- 
tinguished as the " sweet singer 
of Israel j" and his Psalms are 
full of the expression of deep de- 
votional feeling. 

DAY. The day is distinguish- 
ed into natural, civil and artificial. 
The natural day is one revolution 
of the earth. The civil day is 
that, the beginning and end of 
which are determined by the 
custom of any nation. The 
Hebrews began their day in the 
evening, Lev. 23:32; the Baby- 
lonians from sun-rising ; and we 
tegin our civil day at midnight. 
The artificial day is the time of 
the sun's continuance above the 
horizon, which is unequal accord- 
ing to different seasons, on ac- 
count of the obliquity of the 
equator. The sacred writers 
generally divide the day and 
night into twelve unequal hours. 
The sixth hour is always noon 
throughout the year; and the 
twelfth hour is the last hour of 
the day. But in summer, the 
twelfth hour, as all the others 
were, was longer than in winter. 
See Hours. 

DEACON. The original 
meaning of this word is an at- 
tendant, assistant, helper. It is 
sometimes translated minister, 
i. e. servant, as in Matt. 20:26. 
But the word deacon, as spoken 
in reference to the primitive 
institutions of the Christian 
churches, means one who collects 



and distributes alms to the poor, 
an overseer of the poor, an al- 
moner. Persons of both sexes 
were appointed to perform the 
duties of this office, which con- 
sisted in a general inquiry into 
the situation and wants of the 
poor, in taking care of the sick, 
and in administering all necessa- 
ry and proper relief. Phil. 1:1. 
1 Tim. 3:8,12. From this 
word, as applied to this office, is 
derived the English word deacon ; 
which, however, retains little of 
its original signification. 

DEACONESS. Such women 
were called deaconesses, as 
served the church in those offices 
in which the deacons could not 
with propriety engage ; such as 
keeping the doors of that part of 
the church where the women sat ; 
assisting the women to undress 
and dress at baptism ; privately 
instructing those of their own 
sex ; and visiting others impris- 
oned for the faith. In Rom. 16:1, 
Phebe is said to be a servant of 
the church at Cenchrea ; but in 
the original Greek she is called 
deaconess. See under Deacon. 

DEAD SEA, see Sea. 

DEATH is taken in Scripture, 
(1.) for the separation of body 
and soul, the first death, Gen. 
25:11; (2.) for alienation from 
God, and exposure to his wrath, 

1 John 3:14, &c. (3.) for the 
second death, that of eternal 
damnation; (4.) for any great 
calamity, danger, or imminent 
risk of death, as persecution. 

2 Cor. 1:10. "The gates of 
death" signify the grave. 

DEBORAH, a prophetess, and 
wife of Lapidoth, judged the 
Israelites, and dwelt under a 
palm-tree between Ramah and 
Bethel. Judg. 4:4,5. She sent 
for Barak, directed him to attack 
Sisera,and promised him victory. 
Barak, however, refused to go, 



DEE 



[76] 



DEF 



unless she accompanied him, 
which she did, but told him, 
that the success of the expedition 
would be imputed to a woman, 
and not to him. After the victory, 
Deborah composed a splendid 
triumphal song, which is pre- 
served in Judges, c. 5. 

DECALOGUE, the ten prin- 
cipal commandments, Exod. 20:1, 
&c. from the Greek words deka, 
ten, and logos, word. The Jews 
call these precepts, The ten 
words. 

DECAPOLIS, (from the 
Greek words deka, ten, and polls, 
a city,) a country in Palestine, 
which contained ten principal 
cities, on both sides of Jordan. 
Matt. 4:25. Mark 5:20. 7:31. 
According- to Pliny, they were, 
1. Scythopolis ; 2. Philadelphia 3 
3. Raphanae ; 4. Gadara ; 5. 
Hippos ; 6. Dios ; 7. Pella ; 8. 
Gerasa; 9. Canatha; 10. Da- 
mascus. Josephus inserts Oto- 
pos instead of Canatha. Though 
within the limits of Israel, the 
Decapolis was probably inhabited 
by foreigners ; and hence it re- 
tained a foreign appellation. 
This may also contribute to ac- 
count for the numerous herds of 
swine kept in the district, Matt. 
8: 30 5 a practice which was for- 
bidden by the Mosaic law. 

DEEP and DEPTHS. The 
deep, or the great deep, signifies in 
Scripture, (1.) Hell, the place 
of punishment, the bottomless 
pit. Luke 8:31. Comp. Rev. 9:1. 
11:7, &c. (2.) The common 
receptacle of the dead; the 
grave, the deep (or depths of the) 
earth, under which the body be- 
ing deposited, the state of the 
soul corresponding thereto, still 
more unseen, still deeper, still 
further distant from human in- 
spection, is that remote country, 
that " bourn from whence no 
traveller returns." Rom. 10:7. 



(3.) The deepest parts of the 
sea. Ps. 69:15. 107:26. (4.) 
The chaos, which, in the begin- 
ning of the world, was unformed 
and vacant. Gen. 1:2. 

The Hebrews were of opinion 
(as are many of the orientals) 
l that the abyss, the sea and waters, 
encompassed the whole earthy 
that the earth floated upon the 
abyss like a melon swimming on 
and in the water. They believed 
that the earth was founded upon 
the waters, Psalm 24:2. 33:7. 
136:6; or, at least, that it had 
its foundation on the abyss. 
Their Sheol, however, or place 
of the dead, is in the interior of 
the earth, in those dark dungeons 
where the prophets describe the 
kings of Tyre, Babylon and 
Egypt, as lying down, that i?., 
buried, yet suffering the punish- 
ment of their pride and cruelty. 
See Hell. 

DEER, Fallow, a wild quad- 
ruped, of a middle size between 
the stag and the roe-buck; its 
horns turn inward, and are large 
and flat. The deer is naturally 
very timorous : it was reputed 
clean, and good for food. Deut. 
14:5. Young deer were partic- 
ularly esteemed for their delicacy,, 
and are noticed in the Canticles, 
Proverbs and Isaiah, as beauti- 
ful, lovely creatures, and very 
swift. Prov. 5:19. See Hi^d. 

DEFILE, DEFILEMENT. 
Many were the blemishes of per- 
son and conduct, which, under 
the law, were esteemed defile- 
ments ; some were voluntary,, 
some involuntary; some origi- 
nated with the party, others 
were received by him ; some 
were inevitable, being defects of 
nature, others the consequences 
of personal transgression. Un- 
der the gospel, defilements are 
those of the heart, of the mind, 
* the temper, the conduct. Mora] 



DEL 



[77] 



DE(J 



defilements are as numerous, and 
as strongly prohibited under the 
gospel as ever j but ceremonial 
defilements are superseded as 
requiring any religious rites, 
though many of them claim at- 
tention as usages of health, de- 
cency and civility. See Matt. 
15:18. Rom. 1:24. 

DEGREES, Psalms of, is 
the title prefixed to fifteen Psalms 
from Ps. 120, to Ps. 134, inclu- 
sive. This title has given great 
difficulty to commentators, and a 
variety of explanations have been 
proposed. The most probable 
are the following : ( 1 . ) Pilgrim 
songs, sung by the Israelites while 
going up to Jerusalem to wor- 
ship, comp. Ps. 122:4; but to 
this explanation the contents of 
only a few of these Psalms are 
appropriate, e. g. of Ps. 122. — 
(2.) Others suppose the title to 
refer to a species of rhythm in 
these Psalms 3 by which the sense 
ascends, as it were, by degrees, 
— one member or clause fre- 
quently repeating the words with 
which the preceding member 
closes. Thus, in Ps. 121 :— 

1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the 

hills, 
From whence cometh my help. 

2. My help cometh from the Lord, 
Who made heaven and earth. 

■3. He will not suffer thy foot to be 
moved ; 
Thy keeper will not slumber. 

4. Lo, not slumber nor sleep will 
the keeper of Israel. 

But this solution also does not 
well apply to all these Psalms. 

DELUGE. We understand 
principally by this word, thai-uni- 
versal flood which happened in 
the time of Noah, and from 
which, as Peter says, there were 
but eight persons saved. Mo- 
■ses' account of this event is re- 
7* 



corded Gen. c. 6. c. 7. (See Ark 
of Noah.) The sins of mankind 
were the causes of this deluge ; 
and commentators agree to place 
it A. M. 1656. 

DEMETRIUS, a goldsmith 
of Ephesus, who made niches, 
or little chapels, or portable mod- 
els of the famous temple for Di- 
ana of Ephesus, which he sold to 
foreigners. Acts 19:24. Ob- 
serving the progress of the gos- 
pel, not in Ephesus only, but in 
all Asia, he assembled his fellow 
craftsmen, and represented that, 
by this new doctrine, not only 
their trade would surfer, but that 
the worship of the great Diana of 
Ephesus was in danger of being 
entirely forsaken. This produced 
an uproar and confusion in the 
city ; till at length the town-clerk 
appeased the tumult by firmness 
and persuasion. 

DEPTHS, see Deep. 

DERBE, a city of Lycaonia, 
to which Paul and Barnabas fled 
when expelled from Iconium. 
Acts 14:6. A. D. 41. 

DESERT. The Hebrews, by 
" desert, 77 mean an uncultivated 
place, particularly if mountain- 
ous. Some deserts were entirely 
dry and barren; others were 
beautiful, and had good pastures. 
Scripture speaks of the beauty 
of the desert. Ps. 65:12,13. 
Scripture names several deserts 
in the Holy Land; and there 
was scarcely a town without one 
belonging to it, i. e. uncultivated 
places, for woods and pastures ; 
like the English commons, com- 
mon lands. 

DEUTERONOMY, the repe 
'tition of the law, the fifth book of 
the Pentateuch, so called by the 
Greeks, because in it Moses re- 
capitulates what he had ordained 
in the preceding books. This 
book contains the history of what 
passed in the wilderness from the 



DE V 



178] 



DIA 



beginning of the eleventh month, 
to the seventh day of the twelfth 
month, in the fortieth year after the 
Israelites' departure from Egypt ; 
that is, about six weeks. That 
part which mentions the death of 
Moses was added afterwards 3 
very probably by Joshua. 

DEVIL, a fallen angel ; and 
applied more particularly to the 
chief of them, the devil, or Satan. 
He is the great principle of evil 
in the world ; and it is his grand 
object to counteract the good 
which God desires to do. He 
exerts himself, especial))- with 
his angels, the devils or demons, 
to draw away the souls of men 
from embracing salvation through 
Jesus Christ. 

There are many examples in 
the N. T. of persons possessed 
by devils. These are often call- 
ed demoniacs. Some have sup- 
posed that these were only nat- 
ural diseases, and that it is a 
mere chimera to suppose them 
possessed by devils. But our 
Saviour speaks to, and commands 
the devils, who actuated the pos- 
sessed ; which devils answered, 
and obeyed, and gave proofs of 
their presence by tormenting 
those miserable creatures, whom 



they were obliged to quit. Can 
this be merely delusion ? Christ 
alleges, as proof of his mission, 
that the devils are cast out; he 
promises his apostles the same 
power that he himself exercised 
against those wicked spirits. Can 
an this be nothing but chimera 1 

DEW. The dews in Pales- 
tine and some other oriental 
countries are very copious, and 
serve very greatly to sustain and 
promote vegetation in places 
where little or no rain falls. 
Judg. 6 : 38. The dew furnishes 
many beautiful allusions to the 
sacred penmen. Comp. Gen. 
27:28. Deut. 32:2. Hos. 14:5. 

DIANA, a celebrated goddess 
of the heathen, and one of the 
twelve superior deities. In the 
heavens she was Luna, (the 
moon,) on earth Diana, in hell 
Hecate. She was invoked by 
women in child-birth under the 
name of Lucina. She was usu- 
ally represented with a crescent 
on her head, a bow in her hand, 
and dressed in a hunting habit ; 
because she was said to preside 
over forests and hunting. Di- 
ana was said to be the daugh- 
ter of Jupiter by Latona, and 
twin sister of Apollo, She was 




DIV 



[79] 



DOG 






Worshipped particularly at Ephe- 
8us, and had there a most splen- 
did temple, of which the preced- 
ing^ figure represents the iront. 

This temple was 220 years in 
building-, and was reckoned one 
of the seven wonders of the 
world. It was burnt in the year 
356 B. C. by Herostratus, in or- 
der to immortalize his name ; 
but was afterwards rebuilt with 
still greater splendor at the ex 
pense of all the Grecian states 
The " silver shrines for Diana," 
made by Demetrius, were proba- 
bly miniature models of the tem- 
ple at Ephesus, containing a 
small statue of the goddess, 
which were often carried about 
on journeys, &c. Acts 19: 24, &c. 

DIONYSIUS, the Areopagite, 
or judge in the court of Areopa- 
gus, a convert of Paul, Acts 17: 
34, and supposed to have been a 
citizen of Athens. Dionysius is 
fabled to have been made the 
first bishop of Athens, and after 
having labored and suffered 
much in the gospel, to have been 
burnt at Athens, A. D. 95. The 
works attributed to him are spu- 
rious. 

DISCIPLE signifies in the N. 
T. a believer, a Christian, a fol- 
lower of Jesus Christ. 

DIVINATION. The eastern 
people were always fond of div- 
ination, magic, the art of inter- 
preting dreams, and of acquir- 
ing a foreknowledge of futurity. 
When Moses published the law, 
this disposition had long been 
common in Egypt and the neigh- 
boring countries, and to correct 
the Israelites' inclination to con- 
sult diviners, wizards, fortune, 
tellers, and interpreters of 
dreams, it was forbidden them, 
under very severe penalties 5 
and the true spirit of prophecy 
was promised to them as infinite- 
ly superior. They were to be 



stoned who pretended to have a 
familiar spirit, or the spirit of div- 
ination, Deut. 18:9—12 5 and the 
prophets are full of invectives 
ag-ainst the Israelites who consult- 
ed such, as well as against false 
prophets, who seduced the peo- 
ple. See Sorcerers. 

Divination was of several 
kinds ; by water, fire, earth, air ; 
by the flight of birds, and their 
singing 5 by lots, dreams, arrows, 
&c. 

DIVORCE was tolerated by 
Moses, for sufficient reasons, 
Deut. 24 : 1 — 4 ; but our Lord has 
limited it to the single case of 
adultery. Matt. 5:31,32. 

DOCTOR of the law may, 
perhaps, be distinguished from 
scribe, as rather teaching orally, 
than giving written opinions. 
Luke 2:46. It is difficult, when 
the expression " counsel learned 
in the law" is used among us, to 
divest otfrselves of the idea of 
the political law and its adminis- 
tration ; but if we could waive 
that idea, and restrict the phrase 
to learned in the divine law, we 
should, probably, not be far from 
a just conception of what the 
doctors of the law were in Judea. 

Doctors of the law were most- 
ly of the sect of the Pharisees ; 
but are distinguished from that 
sect in Luke 5 : 17, where it ap- 
pears that the novelty of our Sa- 
viour's teaching drew together a 
great company both of Pharisees 
and doctors of the law. 

DOGS were held in great con- 
tempt by the Jews ; but were 
worshipped, as well as cats, by 
the Egyptians. Among the Jews, 
to compare a person to a dog 
was the most degrading expres- 
sion possible. 1 Sam. 24:14. 2 
Sam. 9:8. The state of dogs- 
among the Jews was the same as 
it now is in the East, where, hav- 
ing no owners, they run about the 



DO V 



[SO] 



DOW 



streets in troops, and are fed by 
cliarity or caprice, or they live 
on such offal as they can pick up. 
The orientals, Mr. Harmer says, 
" do not suffer them in their 
houses, and even with care avoid 
touching- them in the streets, 
which would be considered as a 
defilement. One would imagine, 
then, that, as dogs do not appear 
by any means to be necessary in 
their cities, however important 
they may be to those that feed 
flocks, there should be very few 
of these creatures found in those 
places. They are, notwithstand- 
ing, there in great numbers, and 
crowd the streets. They do not 
appear to belong' to particular 
persons, as our dogs do, nor to 
be fed distinctly by such as might 
claim some interest in them, but 
get their food as they can. At 
the same time, people consider it 
as right to take some care of 
them, and charitable persons fre- 
quently give money every week 
or month, to butchers and bakers, 
to feed the dogs at stated times ; 
and some leave legacies at their 
deaths, for the same purpose." 

Dogs in the East being thus 
left to prowl about without mas- 
ters, and get their living general- 
ly as they can, from the offals 
which are cast into the gutters, 
are often on the point of starva- 
tion ; and then they devour 
corpses, and in the night even 
attack living men. Ps. 59 : 6,14, 
15. IK. 14:11. 

DORCAS in Greek, the same 
as Tabitha in Syriac, i. e. ga- 
zelle, the name of a pious female 
at Joppa whom Peter raised 
from the dead. Acts 9:36. 

DOVES' DUNG. It is said, 
2 K. 6:25, that during the siege 
of Samaria, " the fourth part of 
a cab (little more than half a 
pint) of doves' dung was sold 
for five pieces of silver ;" about 



two and a half dollars. It is 
well known that doves' dung is 
not a nourishment for man, even 
in the most extreme famine ; and 
hence the general opinion is, that 
it was a kind of chick-pea, lentil, 
or tare, which has very much 
the appearance of doves' dung, 
whence it might be named. 
Great quantities of these are sold 
in Cairo, to the pilgrims going to 
Mecca} and at Damascus there 
are many shops where nothing 
else is done but preparing chick- 
peas. These, parched in a cop- 
per pan, and dried, are of great 
service to those who take long 
journeys. It may be, however, 
that the sacred writer means only 
to say, that the famine was so 
severe, and every thing so exor- 
bitantly dear, that an instance 
occurred when an ass's head was 
sold for eighty pieces of silver, or 
$40 5 and a cab of doves' dung 
for %1\. Such instances of fam- 
ine nave not been unknown also 
in Egypt. 

DOWRY. Nothing distin- 
guishes more the nature of mar- 
riage among us in Europe, from 
the same connection when form- 
ing in the East, than the different 
methods of proceeding between 
the father-in-law and the intend- 
ed bridegroom. Among us, the 
father usually gives a portion to 
his daughter, which becomes the 
property of her husband ; and 
which often makes a considera- 
ble part of his wealth ; but in 
the East, the bridegroom offers 
to the father of his bride a sum 
of money, or value to his satis- 
faction, before he can expect to 
receive his daughter in marriage. 
Of this procedure we have in- 
stances from the earliest times. 
When Jacob had nothing which 
he could immediately give for a 
wife, he purchased her by his 
services to her father Laban. 



DRE 



[81] 



DUL 



Gen. 29 : 18. So in many other 
instances. Gen. 34:12, &c. 

DRAGON answers, in the 
English Bible, to the Hebrew 
word signifying a sea monster, 
huge serpent, &c. Thus in Deut. 
32:33. Jer. 51 :34, and Rev. c. 
12, it evidently implies a huge 
serpent ; in Ezek. 29:3, it may 
mean the crocodile, or any large 
sea-monster ; while in Job 30 : 29, 
it seems to refer to some wild ani- 
mal of the desert, most probably 
the jackal. The animal known 
to modern naturalists under the 
name of dragon, is a harmless 
species of lizard, found in Asia 
and Africa. 

DREAM. The orientals, and 
in particular the Jews, greatly 
regarded dreams, and applied 
for their interpretation to those 
who undertook to explain them. 
We see the antiquity of this cus- 
tom in the history of Pharaoh's 
butler and baker, Gen. c. 40, and 
Pharaoh himself, and Nebuchad- 
nezzar, are also instances. God 
expressly forbade his people from 
observing dreams, and from con- 
sulting explainers of them. He 
condemned to death all who pre- 
tended to have prophetic dreams, 
and to foretell events, even 
though what they foretold came 
to pass, if they had any tendency 
to promote idolatry. Deut. 13 : 1 
— 3. But they were not forbid- 
den, when they thought they had 
a significant dream, to address 
the prophets of the Lord, or the 
high-priest in his ephod, to have 
it explained. The Lord fre- 
quently discovered his will in 
dreams, and enabled persons to 
explain them. 

Dreams should be carefully 
distinguished from visions : the 
former occurred during sleep, 
and, therefore, were liable to 
much ambiguity and uncertainty ; 
the latter ; when the person, being 



awake, retained possession of his- 
natural powers and faculties, 
God spake to Abimelech in a 
dream, but to Abraham by vision. 

DRESSES, see Garments. 

DROMEDARY, see under 
Camel. 

DRUSILLA, the youngest 
daughter of Herod Agrippa I. 
and sister of the younger Agrippa 
and of Bernice, celebrated for 
her beauty and infamous for her 
licentiousness. She was first 
espoused to Epiphanes, son of 
Antiochus, king of Comagena, 
on condition of his embracing 
the Jewish religion ; but as he 
afterwards refused to be circum- 
cised, Drusilla was given in mar- 
riage by her brother to Azizus, 
king of Emessa. When Felix 
came as governor of Judea, he 
persuaded her to abandon her 
husband and her religion, and 
become his wife. Paul bore tes- 
timony before them to the truth 
of the Christian religion. Acts 
24:24. 

DUKE. This word, being a 
title of honor in use in Great 
Britain, and signifying a higher 
order of nobility, is apt to mis- 
lead the reader, who, in Gen. 
36:15^43, finds a long list of 
dukes of Edom : but the word 
duke, from the Latin dux, merely 
signifies a leader or chief, and 
the word chief ought rather 
to have been preferred in our 
translation. 1 Chr. 1:51. 

DULCIMER, Dan. 3: 5,10, an 
instrument of music, as is usually 
thought ; but the original word, 
which is Greek, sumponya, i. e. 
symphony, renders it doubtful 
whether it really means a musical 
instrument, or a musical strain, 
chorus, or accompaniment of 
many voices, or instruments, in 
concert and harmony. The rab- 
bins describe the sumponya of 
Daniel as a sort of bagpipe. 



EAG 



[82] 



EAR 



composed of two pipes connected 
with a leathern sack, and of a 
harsh, screaming- sound. Even 
at the present day, the common 
pipe, or slialm of the common 
people, (nearly resembling- the 
hautboy,) is in Italy called zatn- 
pogna, and in Asia Minor sambo- 
nya. The dulcimer, by which 
the Hebrew is improperly ren- 
dered in the English version, is 
an instrument of a triangular 
form, strung with about fifty 
wires, and struck with an iron 



key, while lying on the table be- 
fore the performer. It is confined 
mostly to puppet shows and itin- 
erant musicians. 

DUMAH, a tribe and country 
of the Ishmaelites in Arabia. 
Gen. 25:14. Isa. 21:11. This 
is doubtless the same which is 
still called by the Arabs Duma 
the stony, the Syrian Duma, sit- 
uated on the confines of the 
Arabian and Syrian desert, with 
a fortress. 



E. 



EAGLE, a large and very 
powerful bird of prey, hence called 
the king of birds. There are 
several species of eagle described 
by naturalists, and it is probable 
that this word in the Bible com- 
prehends more than one of these. 
The largest and noblest species 
with which we are acquainted, is 
that called by Mr. Bruce, " the 
golden eagle," and by the Ethi- 
opians, "Abou Auch'n," or father 
Long-beard, from a tuft of hair 
which grows below his beak. 
From wing to wing, this bird 
measures eight feet four inches ; 
and from the tip of his tail to the 
point of his beak, when dead, 
four feet seven inches. Of all 
known birds, the eagle flies not 
only the highest, but also with 
the greatest rapidity. To this 
circumstance there are several 
striking allusions in the sacred 
volume. Among the evils threat- 
ened to the Israelites in case of 
their disobedience, the prophet 
names one in the following terms : 
tl The Lord shall bring a nation 
against thee from far, from the 
end of the earth, as swift as the 
eagle flieth." Deut. 28:49. The 
marchof Nebuchadnezzar against 



Jerusalem, is predicted in the 
same terms : " Behold he shall 
come up as clouds, and his char- 
iots as a whirlwind : his horses 
are swifter than eagles.' 7 Jer. 
4:13. 

The eagle, it is said, lives to a 
great age ; and like other birds 
of prey, sheds his feathers in the 
beginning of spring. After this 
season, ne appears with fresh 
strength and vigor, and his old 
age assumes the appearance of 
youth. To this David alludes, 
when gratefully reviewing the 
mercies of Jehovah : " Who 
satisfieth thy mouth with good 
things, so that thy youth is re- 
newed like the eagle's." Psalm 
103:5. 

The eagle is remarkable for 
his keen sight and scent. Like 
all birds of prey, the eagle was 
unclean to the Jews ; and is 
never eaten by any body, unless 
in cases of necessity. 

EAR, EARING, an old agri- 
cultural term for ploughing. 
Thus, in Is. 30:24, it is said, 
" The oxen also, and the young- 
asses which ear (i. e. plougfi) 
the ground." So also in Gen. 
45:6. Ex. 34:21, &c. 



EAT 



[83] 



EAT 



EAR-RINGS, see Rings. 

EARTHQUAKE, a convul- 
sion of the earth. Scripture 
speaks of several earthquakes. 
One happened in the twenty- 
seventh year of Uzziah king of 
Judah, and is mentioned Amos 
1:1. Zech. 14:5. A very 
memorable earthquake is that 
which happened at our Saviour's 
tleath, Matt. 27:51} and many 
have thought, that it was per- 
ceived throughout the world. 
Others think it was felt only in 
Judea, or in the temple at Jeru- 
salem. The word earthquake is 
also used in a more limited sense, 
to denote prodigious agitations 
of mountains, shocks of the 
foundation of the universe, effects 
of God's power, wrath, and 
vengeance,— figurative exagger- 
ations, which represent the 
greatness, strength and power of 
God. Ps. 104:32. 18:7. 46:2. 
114:4. 

EAST. The Hebrews, in 
speaking of the different quarters 
of the heaven, always suppose the 
face to be turned towards the 
east. Hence before, or forwards, 
means the east; behind is the 
west, the right hand is south, and 
the left-hand, north. 

EAST WIND, see Wind. 

EASTER is improperly put 
for passover. Acts 12:4. 

EATING, Mode of. The He- 
brews anciently sat at table, but 
afterwards imitated the Persians 
and Chaldeans, who reclined on 
table-beds, or divans, while eat- 
ing. A knowledge of this fact 
is of importance to a right under- 
standing of several passages in 
the N. T. The engraving on 
page 84 represents one of the 
common eating tables. 

The reader is requested to 
notice the construction of the 
tables, i. e. three tables, so set 
together as to form but one. 



Around these tables are placed, 
not seats, but couches, or beds, 
one to each table ; each of these 
beds being called clinium, three 
of these united, to surround the 
three tables, formed the triclini- 
um (three beds). These beds 
were formed of mattresses 
stuffed ; and were often highly 
ornamented. Observe the atti- 
tude of the guests ; each reclin- 
ing on his left elbow ; and there- 
fore using principally his right 
hand, that only (or at least 
chiefly) being free for use. Ob- 
serve also, that the feet of the 
person reclining being towards 
the external edge of the bed, 
they were much more readily 
reached by any body passing, 
than any other part of the person 
so reclining. « 

For want of a proper knowl- 
edge in respect to this mode of 
reclining at table, severai pas- 
sages in the Gospels are quite 
unintelligible in our English 
translation. So Luke 7:37, " A 
woman in the city who was a 
sinner, when she knew that Jesus 
sat at meat in the Pharisee's 
house, brought an alabaster box 
of ointment, and stood at his feet 
behind him, weeping ; and began 
to ivash his feet with tears, and 
did wipe them with the hairs of 
her head ; and kissed his feet, 
and anointed them with the oint- 
ment." Now, according to our 
mode of sitting at table, this 
would be impossible ; but on in- 
specting the engraving, the nar- 
ration becomes intelligible ; the 
feet of a person recumbent, being 
outermost, are most exposed to 
salutation, or to any other treat- 
ment, from one standing behind 
them. The same observations 
apply to John 12 : 3 — " Lazarus 
was one who reclined at table 
with Jesus ; and Mary anointed 
the feet of Jesus," &c. 



[84] 




EAT 



[85] 



EBA 



Assisted by these ideas, we 
may better understand the histo- 
ry of our Lord's washing- his dis- 
ciples 7 feet. John 13:5. He 
poureth water into a basin, and 
going round the beds whereon 
the disciples reclined, he began to 
wash their feet, which lay on the 
external edge of the couch, and 
to wipe them with the towel where- 
with he was girded, &c. v. 12, 
" After he had taken his garments 
and was reclined again, he said," 
&c. See also under Laza- 
rus II. 

This mode of reclining at 
meals was common in the East, 
and also among the Greeks and 
Romans. Under the Roman 
emperors, the couches were 
sometimes made semicircular. 
At the present day, in the East, 
the custom is to sit or recline 
upon the floor at meat, and at 
other times on cushions, &c. 

The present mode of eating in 
Syria and Palestine is thus de- 
scribed by Dr. Jowett : " To 
witness the daily family habits, in 
the house in which I lived at 
Deir el Kamr, forcibly reminded 
me of Scripture scenes. The 
absence of the females at our 
meals has been already noticed. 
There is ano-iher custom, by no 
means agreeable to a European ; 
to which, however, I would have 
willingly endeavored to submit, 
but it was impossible to learn it 
in the short compass of a twenty 
days' visit. There are set on 
the table, in the evening, two or 
three messes of stewed meat, 
vegetables, and sour milk. To 
me the privilege of a knife and 
spoon and plate was granted ; 
but the rest all helped themselves 
immediately from the dish ; in 
which it was no uncommon thing 
to see more than five Arab 
fingers at one time. Their bread, 
which is extremely thin, tearing 



and folding up like a sheet of 
paper, is used for the purpose of 
rolling together a large mouthful, 
or sopping up the fluid and vege- 
tables. But the practice which 
was most revolting to me was 
this : when the master of the 
house found in the dish any dain- 
ty morsel, he took it out with 
his fingers and applied it to my 
mouth. This was true Syrian 
courtesy and hospitality ; and, 
had I been sufficiently well-bred, 
my mouth would have opened to 
receive it. On my pointing to 
my plate, however, he had the 
goodness to deposit the choice 
morsel there. I would not have 
noticed so trivial a circumstance, 
if it did not exactly illustrate 
what the evangelists record of 
the Last Supper. St. Matthew 
relates that the traitor was de- 
scribed by our Lord in these 
terms : He that dippeth his hand 
with me in the dish, the same 
shall betray me, 26:23. From 
this it may be inferred that 
Judas sat near to our Lord ; per- 
haps on one side next to him. 
St. John, who was leaning on 
Jesus's bosom, describes the fact 
with an additional circumstance. 
Upon his asking, Lord, who is it ? 
Jesus answered, He it is to whom 
I shall give a sop, when I have 
dipped it. And when he had 
dipped the sop. he gave it to Judas 
Iscariot, the son of Simon. And 
after the sop, Satan entered into 
him, John 13:25— 27." 

EBAL, a mountain in Ephraim, 
near Shechem, over against 
. mount Gerizim, from which it is 
I separated by a valley of about 
200 paces wide, in which stands 
the town of Shechem. Both 
mountains are much alike in 
length, height, and form, and 
their altitude is stated not to ex- 
ceed 700 or 800 feet, from the 
level of the valley. But if they 



EDE 



[86] 



EGY 



are alike in these particulars, in 
others they are very unlike ; for 
Ebal is barren, while Gerizim is 
beautiful and fruitful. The Jews 
and Samaritans have great dis- 
putes about them. See Geri- 
zim. 

ECCLESIASTES, literally 
the preacher, or one who ad- 
dresses an assembly. This 
is the name of one of the 
books of the O. T. usually as- 
cribed to Solomon as its au- 
thor. Solomon, at least, is in- 
troduced as speaking- 3 and the 
object of the book is to teach 
the vanity of all thing's, and 
show that the only true wis- 
dom is "to fear God and keep 
his commandments." This, he 
says, is the conclusion of the 
whole matter, c. 12 : 13. In read- 
ing- this book, care should be 
taken not to deduce opinions 
from detached sentiments, but 
from the general scope and com- 
bined force of the whole. 

EDEN, a province in Asia, in 
which was paradise. " The 
Lord planted eastward a garden 
in Eden, and there he put the 
man whom he had formed." 
Gen. 2:8. The topography of 
Eden is thus described : " And 
a river went out of Eden to water 
the garden, and from thence it 
was parted, and became into 
four heads. The name of the , 
first is Pison," &c. 

It may be inferred from a num- 
ber of circumstances, that para- 
dise was placed on a mountain, 
or at least in a country diversified 
with hills, because only such a 
country could supply the springs 
necessary to form four heads of 
rivers ; and because all heads of 
rivers rise in hills, from whence 
their waters descend to the sea. 
Such a country has been found 
in Armenia, with such an eleva- 
tion, or assemblage of elevations, 



also, as appeared to be requisite 
for the purpose. On this suppo- 
sition, the Phasis is the Pison 
of Moses, and the similarity of 
sound in the name would seem 
to confirm the opinion ; it is a 
natural consequence, that the 
Araxes should be the Gihon, 
since its waters are extremely 
rapid, and the Greek name 
Araxes, like the Hebrew Gihon, 
denotes the dart, or swift. About 
the two other rivers, the Tigris 
and the Euphrates, there is then 
no question. 

EDOM and EDOMITES, see 
Esau and iDUMiEA. 

EGYPT, a celebrated country 
in the north of Africa, at the 
eastern part of the Mediterrane- 
an sea. The Hebrews called it 
Mizraim; and hence it is now 
called by the Arabs Mizr. The 
Greeks and Romans called it 
JEgyptus, whence Egypt; but 
the origin of this name is un- 
known. 

The proper land of Egypt is, 
for the most part, a great valley, 
through which the river Nile 
pours its waters, extending in a 
straight line from north to south, 
and skirted on the east and west 
by ranges of mountains, which 
approach and recede from the 
river more or less in different 
parts. Where this valley ter- 
minates, towards the north, the 
Nile divides itself, about forty or 
fifty miles from the sea-coast, 
into several arms, which enclose 
the so called Delta. The an- 
cients numbered seven arms and 
mouths ; the eastern was that of 
Pelusium, now that of Tineh; 
and the western that of Canopus, 
now that of Aboukir. As these 
branches all separate from one 
point or channel, i. e. from the 
main stream, and spread them- 
selves more and more as they 
approach the coast, they form 



EGY 



[87] 



EGY 



with the latter a triangle, the 
base of which is the sea-coast j 
and having thus the form of the 
Greek letter A, delta, this part of 
Egypt received the name of the 
Delta, which it has ever since 
retained. The northern and 
southern points of Egypt are 
assigned by the prophet Ezekiel, 
29:10. 30:6, from Migdol, i.e. 
Magdolum, not far from the 
mouth of the Pelusian arm, to 
Syene, now Essuan, namely, to 
the border of Ethiopia. Essuan 
is also assigned b} r Greek and 
Arabian writers as the southern 
limit of Egypt. He»e the Nile 
issues from the granite rocks of 
the cataracts, and enters Egypt 
proper. The length of the 
country therefore, in a direct line, 
is 112 geographical miles. The i 
breadth of the valley, between j 
Essuan and the Delta, is very ' 
unequal ; in some places the in- 
undations of the river extend to 
the foot of the mountains ; in 
other parts there remains a strip 
of a mile or two in breadth, 
which the water never covers, 
and which is therefore always dry 
and barren. Originally the name 
Egypt designated only this val- 
ley and the Delta ; but at a later 
period it came to include also 
the region between this and the 
Red sea. 

The country around Syene 
and the cataracts is highly pic- 
turesque ; the other parts of 
Egypt, and especially the Delta, 
are exceedingly uniform and mo- 
notonous. The prospect, how- 
ever, is extremely different, ac- 
cording to the season of the year. 
From the middle of the spring 
season, when the harvest is over, 
one sees nothing but a grey and 
dusty soil, so full of cracks and 
chasms, that he can hardly pass 
along. At the time of the au- 
tumnal equinox, the whole coun- 



try presents nothing but an im- 
measurable surface of reddish or 
yellowish water, out of which 
rise date-trees, villages, and nar- 
row dams, which serve as a 
means of communication. After 
the waters have retreated, which 
Usually remain only a short time 
at this height, you see, till the 
end of autumn, only a black and 
slimy mud. But in winter, na- 
ture puts on all her splendor. In 
this season, the freshness and 
power of the new vegetation, the 
variety and abundance of vege- 
table productions, exceed every 
thing that is known in the most 
celebrated parts of the European 
continent j and Egypt is then, 
from one end of the country to 
the other, nothing but a beautiful 
garden, a verdant meadow, a 
field sown with flowers, or a 
waving ocean of grain in the 
ear. This fertility, as is well 
known, depends upon the annual 
and regular inundations of the 
Nile. See Nile. 

The sky is not less uniform 
and monotonous than the earth j 
it is constantly a pure, un- 
clouded arch, of a color and 
light more white than azure. 
The atmosphere has a splendor 
which the eye can scarcely bear ; 
and a burning sun, whose glow 
is tempered by no shade, scorch- 
es through the whole day these 
vast and unprotected plains. It 
is almost a peculiar trait in 
the Egyptian landscape, that 
although not without trees, it is 
yet almost without shade. The 
only tree is the date-tree, which 
is frequent ; but with its tall, 
slender stem, and bunch of fo- 
liage on the top, this tree does 
very little to keep off the light, 
and casts upon the earth only a 
pale and uncertain shade. Egypt, 
accordingly, has a very hot 
climate ; the thermometer in 



EGY 



[88] 



EGY 



summer standing- usually at eigh- 
ty or ninety degrees of Fahren- 
heit ; and in Upper Egypt still 
higher. The burning wind of 
the desert, Simoom, or Camsin, 
is also experienced, usually 
about the time of the early equi- 
nox. The country is also not 
unfrequently visited by swarms 
of locusts. See Locusts. 

The chief agricultural produc- 
tions of Egypt are wheat, durrah 
or small maize, Turkish or Indian 
corn or maize, rice, barley, 
beans, cucumbers, water-melons, 
leeks and onions ; also flax and 
cotton. The date-tree and vine 
are frequent. The papyrus is 
still found in small quantity, 
chiefly near Damietta; it is a 
reed about nine feet high, as 
thick as a man's thumb, with a 
tuft of down on the top. (See 
under Book.) The animals of 
Egypt, besides the usual kinds 
of tame cattle, are the wild ox 
or buffalo in great numbers, the 
ass and camel, dogs in multitudes 
without masters, the ichneumon, 
(a kind of weasel,) the crocodile, 
and the hippopotamus. 

The inhabitants of Egypt may 
be considered as including three 
divisions ; (1.) The Copts, or 
descendants of the ancient Egyp- 
tians. (2.) The Fellahs, or hus- 
bandmen ; who are supposed to 
represent the people in Scrip- 
ture called Phul. (3.) The 
Arabs, or conquerors of the 
country, including the Turks, 
Mamelukes, &c. The Copts 
have seen so many revolutions 
in the governing powers, that 
they concern themselves very 
little about the successes or mis- 
fortunes of those who aspire to 
dominion. The Fellahs suffer so 
much oppression, and are so 
despised by the Bedouins, or 
wandering Arabs, and by their 
despotic rulers, that the} seldom 



acquire property, and very rarely 
enjoy it in security. The Arabs 
hate the Turks ; yet the Turks 
enjoy most offices of gov- 
ernment ; though they hold their 
superiority by no very certain 
tenure. 

In the very earliest times, 
Egypt appears to have already 
been regarded under three prin- 
cipal divisions ; and writers 
spoke either of Upper and Lower 
Egypt; or of Upper Egypt or 
Thebais, Middle Egypt, Hepta- 
nomis or Heptapolis, and Lower 
Egypt or the Delta, including the 
districts lying east and west. 
The provinces and cities of 
Egypt mentioned in the Bible 
may, in like manner, be arranged 
under these three great di- 
visions : 

1. Lower Egypt. The 
north-eastern point of this was 
the River of Egypt, (see below,) 
on the border of Palestine. The 
desert between this point, the 
Red sea, and the ancient Pelu- 
sium, seems to have been the 
desert of Shur, Gen. 20:1, now 
El-Djefar. Sin, " the strength 
[key] of Egypt," Ezek. 30 : 15, 
was probably Pelusium. The 
land of Goshen appears to have 
lain between Pelusium, its branch 
of the Nile, and the Red sea, 
having been skirted on the north- 
east by the desert of Shur ; con- 
stituting, perhaps, a part of the 
province Rameses. Gen. 47 : 1 1. 
In this district, or adjacent to it, 
are mentioned also the cities 
Pithom, Raamses ,Pi-Beseth, and 
On or Heliopolis. In the proper 
Delta itself, lay Tahapanes, i. e. 
Taphne or Daphne ; Zoan, the 
Ta.nis of the Greeks ; Leonlop- 
olis, alluded to perhaps in Is. 
19 : 18. To the west of the Delta 
was Alexandria. 

2. Middle Egypt. Here 
are mentioned Moph or Memphis; 



EGY 



[89 ] 



EGY 



and Hanes, the Heracleopolis of 
the Greeks. 

3. Upper Egypt. The 
southern part of Egypt, the He- 
brews appear to have called 
Pathros. Jer. 44:1,15. The 
Bible mentions here only two 
cities, viz. No, or more fully No- 
Ammon, for which the Seventy 
put Diospolis, the Greek name 
for Thebes, the most ancient cap- 
ital of Egypt j (see Ammon ;) 
and Syene, the southern city and 
Jim it of Egypt. 

The early history of ancient 
Egypt is involved in great obscu- 
rity. All accounts, however, 
and the results of all modern re- 
searches, seem to concur in rep- 
resenting culture and civilization 
as having been introduced and 
spread in Egypt from the south, 
and especially from Meroe" ; and 
that the country in the earliest 
times was possessed by several 
contemporary kings or states, 
which at length were all united 
into one great kingdom. The 
common name of the Egyptian 
kings was Pharaoh, which signi- 
fied sovereign power. History 
has preserved the names of sev- 
eral of these kings, and a suc- 
cession of their dynasties. But 
the inclination of the Egyptian 
historians to magnify the great 
antiquity of their nation, has 
destroyed their credibility. See 
Pharaoh. 

Egypt was conquered by 
Cambyses, and became a prov- 
ince of* the Persian empire about 
525 B. C. Thus it continued 
until conquered bv Alexander, 
350 B. C. after whose death it 
formed, along with Syria, Pales- 
tine, Lybia, &x. the kingdom of 
the Ptolemies. After the battle 
of Actiutn, 30 B. C. it became a 
Roman province. Since that 
time it has ceased to be an inde- 
pendent state, and its history is 
2 * 



incorporated with that of its dif- 
ferent conquerors and possessors. 
In A. D. 640, it was conquered 
by the Arabs ; and in later peri- 
ods has passed from the hands of 
the caliphs under the power of 
Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Mame- 
lukes j and since 1517, has been 
governed as a province of the 
Turkish empire. 

The religion of Egypt con- 
sisted in the worship of the 
heavenly bodies and the powers 
of nature ; the priests cultivated 
at the same time astronomy and 
astrology, and to these belong 
probably the wise men, sorcerers, 
and magicians, mentioned Ex. 
7:11,22. It was probably this 
wisdom, in which Moses also was 
learned. Acts 7:22. But the 
Egyptian religion had this pecu- 
liarity, that it adopted living an- 
imals as symbols of the real 
objects of worship. The Egyp- 
tians not only esteemed many 
species of animals as sacred, 
which might not be killed without 
the punishment of death, but in- 
dividual animals were kept in 
temples and worshipped with 
sacrifices, as gods. 

The most extraordinary mon- 
uments of Eg} T ptian power and 
industry were the pyramids, 
which still subsist, to excite the 
wonder and admiration of the 
world. A description of these 
extraordinary structures has gen- 
erally been considered as matter 
of curiosity, rather than as being 
applicable in illustrating the 
Scriptures, since there appears 
to be no allusion to them in the 
Bible. They have, however, by 
some, been supposed to have 
been erected by the Israelites 
during their bondage in Egypt. 
But the tenor of ancient history 
in general, as well as the results 
of modern researches, is against 
the supposition of the pyramids 



ELA 



[90] 



ELM 



having- been built by the Israel- 
ites ; and they are usually 
assigned to a later period. 

The River or Stream of Egypt, 
mentioned in the Bible, is under- 
stood not to be the Nile, but the 
small torrent Bes or, emptying into 
the south-east corner of the Medi- 
terranean, southwards from Gaza. 

EKRON, the most northern 
city of the Philistines, allotted to 
Judah by Joshua, 15:45, but 
afterwards given to Dan, 19:43, 
though it does not appear that 
the Jews ever peaceably pos- 
sessed it. It was near the Medi- 
terranean, between Ashdod and 
Jamnia, and is probably the ru- 
ined village now called Tookrain. 

ELAM, the region afterwards 
called Persia. Gen. 14:1. It 
Was called Elam after a son of 
Shem. It corresponded to the 
Elymais of Greek and Roman 
writers, which comprehended 
a part of Susiana, now Khusis- 
tan, — or, more probably, included 
the whole of Susiana. The city 
Susa, or Shushan. was in it. 
Dan. 8:2. 

ELAH, son and successor of 
Baasha, king of Israel, B. C. 926. 
After a reign of two years, he 
was assassinated by Zimri, who 
succeeded him as king. 1 K. 
16:6—9. 

ELATH, or ELOTH, a city 
of Idumea, situated at the north- 
ern extremity of the eastern gulf 
of the Red sea, which was an- 
ciently called the Elanitic gulf, 
and now the gulf of Akaba. 
Ezion-Gaber was also situated 
here, and very near Elath. — 
This gulf, although known to the 
ancients, has been almost un- 
known to modern geographers, 
until the time of Burckhardt. 
This enterprising traveller ex- 
plored it and gave the first full 
account of it. On most maps it 
is laid down as being forked at 



its northern end ; but this is now 
found to be an error. The great 
sand valley called El-Araba and 
El-Ghor runs from this gulf to 
the Dead sea. 

ELDERS of Israel, the 
heads of tribes, who, before the 
settlement of the Hebrew com- 
monwealth, had a government 
and authority over their own 
families and the people. Moses 
and Aaron treated the elders as 
representatives of the nation. 
When the law was given, God di- 
rected Moses to take the seventy 
elders, as well as Aaron, and Na- 
dab and Abihu, his sons, that they 
might be witnesses. Ex. 24:1, 9* 
Everafterwards,we find this num- 
ber of seventy, or rather seventy- 
two, elders 5 six from each tribe. 

In allusion to the Jewish elders, 
the ordinary governors of the 
Christian church are called el- 
ders, or presbyters, and are the 
same as bishops or overseers. 
Acts 20:17,28. Tit. 1:5,7. 

ELL high-priest of the Jews, 
with whom Samuel was brought 
up. He died a very old man, 
after hearing that the ark of God 
was taken by the Philistines* 
1 Sam. 4:18. 

ELIJAH, a Hebrew prophet, 
of great celebrity and holiness, 
who was carried to heaven in a 
fiery chariot, without having 
tasted death. His history, which 
is full of afTecting incidents and 
very interesting, is contained in 
IK. c. 17— 19, and2K. c. 1,2. 

ELISHA, a celebrated He 
brew prophet, the successor, and, 
in some sort, the pupil of Elijah, 
His history, which is full of in- 
terest, is contained in IK. 19: 
16—21, and 2 K. c. 2—9. c. 13: 
14—21. 

ELM occurs but once in the 
English Bible, Hos. 4:13; and 
the original Hebrew word there 
used, is the same which is else- 



EMB 



[91] 



EMB 



where translated Oak, which see. 
It should properly be always ren- 
dered Terebinth. See under 
Oak. 

ELUL, a Hebrew month, the 
twelfth of a civil year, and sixth 
of the ecclesiastical. Neh. 6 : 15. 
It corresponded to August, O. S. 
or, as others think, included the 
time from the new moon of Sep- 
tember, to that of October. 

EMBALMING. The ancient 
Egyptians and Hebrews em- 
balmed the bodies of the dead. 
Joseph ordered the embalming 
of his father Jacob ; and his phy- 
sicians, employed in this work, 
were forty days, the usual time, 
about it. A dead body so em- 
balmed is called a mummy. 

When a man died, a coffin was 
made proportioned to the stature 
and quality of the deceased per- 
son, and to the price, in which 
there was a great diversity. The 
upper exterior of the coffin repre- 
sented the person who was to be 
enclosed in it. A man of condi- 
tion was distinguished by the 
figure on the cover of the coffin ; 
suitable paintings and embellish- 
ments were generally added. 
The embalmers' prices varied ; 
the highest was an Attic talent, or 
% 1.000 j twenty minaz, or #333, 
was moderate ; the lowest price 
was small. The process of em- 
balming dead bodies among the 
Egyptians was as follows : — A 
dissector, with a very sharp 
Ethiopian stone, made an incis- 
ion on the left side, and hurried 
away instantly, because the rela- 
tions of the deceased, who were 
present, took up stones, and pur- 
sued him as a wicked wretch, 
who had disfigured the dead. 
The embalmers, who were look- 
ed upon as sacred officers, drew 
the brains through the nostrils 
with a hooked piece of iron, and 
filled the skull with astringent 



drugs 3 they drew all the entrails/ 
except the heart and kidneys, 
through the hole in the left side, 
and washed them in palm wine, 
and other strong and astringent 
drugs. The body was anointed 
with oil of cedar, myrrh, cinna- 
mon, &c. about thirty days, so 
that it was preserved entire, 
without putrefaction, without 
losing its hair, and without con- 
tracting any disagreeable smell j 
and was then put into salt for about 
forty days. Hence, when Moses 
says that forty days were em- 
ployed in embalming Jacob, he 
probably speaks of the forty 
days of his continuing in the salt 
of nitre ; not including the thirty 
days engaged in the previous 
ceremonies ; so that, in the whole, 
they mourned seventy days for 
him in Egypt 5 as Moses ob- 
serves. Gen. 50:2,3. 

The body was afterwards 
taken out of the salt, washed, 
wrapped up in long linen swad- 
dling-bands dipped in myrrh, 
and closed with a gum, which the 
Egyptians used instead of glue. 
It was then restored to the rela- 
tions, who enclosed it in a coffin, 
and kept it in their houses, or de- 
posited it in a tomb. Great num- 
bers of mummies have recently 
been found in Egypt, in cham- 
bers or subterraneous vaults. 

A recent discovery in Egypt 
shows us, that the common peo- 
ple of that country were embalm- 
ed by means of bitumen, a cheap 
material, and easily managed. 
With this the corpse and its en- 
velopes were smeared, with more 
or less care and diligence. Sep- 
ulchres have been opened, in 
which thousands of bodies had 
been deposited in rows, one on 
another, without coffins, preserv- 
ed in this manner. 

As to the embalming of our Sa- 
viour, the evangelists inform us, 



EMM 



[92] 



£NG 



that Joseph of Arimafhea, having 
obtained his body, brought a 
white sheet to wrap it in ; and 
that Nicodemus purchased a hun- 
dred pounds of myrrh and aloes, 
with which they embalmed him, 
and put him into Joseph's own 
unfinished sepulchre, cut in a 
rock. They could not use more 
ceremony, because the night 
came on, and the sabbath was 
just beginning. Nevertheless, 
the women who had followed 
him from Galilee, designed to 
embalm him more perfectly at 
better opportunity and leisure 5 
they remarked the place and 
manner of his sepulchre, and 
bought spices for their purpose. 
They rested all the sabbath-day, 
and on the first day of the week, 
early in the morning, they went 
to the sepulchre, but could not 
execute their design, our Lord 
having risen from the dead. He 
had only been rubbed with myrrh 
and aloes, wrapped up in swad- 
dling-bands, and buried in a great 
sheet, his face covered with a 
napkin. This is what we observe 
on comparing the passages of 
John. We see bandages of the 
same kind in the account of 
Lazarus's resurrection, with this 
difference, that there is no men- 
tion of spices. John 19:40. 20:5. 
See Burial. 

EMERALD, a precious stone 
of a fine green color, found an- 
ciently in Ethiopia, but in modern 
times, only in South America. 
Ex. 28: 18. 

EMERODS, for emeroids, i. e. 
hemorrhoids, the name of a pain- 
ful disease occasioned by tumors, 
the piles. Deut. 28:27. 1 Sam. 
5:12. 

EMMANUEL, a compound 
Hebrew word or name, signify- 
ing God v:ith us. It is applied 
to the Messiah, our Saviour, who, 
as having- united the divine with 



the human nature, is God with us. 
Isa. 7:14. 8:8. Matt. 1:23, 

EMMAUS. There seem to 
have been three places of this 
name in Palestine :—* 

1. A city about twenty or 
twenty-two miles N. W. of Jeru- 
salem, situated in a level region, 
and afterwards called Nicopolis. 
It was celebrated for its baths, 
and for the defeat of Antiochus 
by Judas Maccabeus. 1 Mac. 
3:40,57. 

2. A place near Tiberias, on 
the lake, and celebrated for its 
baths. It is called by Josephus 
Ammaus. 

3. The village mentioned in 
Luke 24:13, about sixty stadia, 
or seven miles and a half, from 
Jerusalem ; in what direction is 
not known. 

EN signifies a fountain ; for 
which reason we find it com* 
pounded with many names of 
towns and places ; as, En-dor, 
En-gedi, En-eglaim, En-she- 
mesh ; i.e. the fountain of Dor, 
of Gedi, &c. 

ENCHANTMENTS, see In- 

CHANTMF.NTS. 

EN-DOR, a city of Manasseh, 
Josh. 17:11, placed by Eusebius 
four miles south of mount Tabor, 
nearNaYn, in the way to Scytho- 
polis. Here the witch lived 
whom Saul consulted. 1 Sam. 
28:7, &c. 

EN-GEDI. This name is prob- 
ably suggested by the situation 
among lofty rocks, which, over- 
hanging the valleys, are very 
precipitous. We may suppose a 
fountain of pure water rising near 
the summit, which the inhabitants 
call En-gedi — the fountain of the 
goat-- because it is hardly accessi- 
ble to any other creature. It was 
called also Hazazon- Tamar, that 
is, the city of palm-trees , there be- 
ing great numbers of palm-trees 
around it. It stood near the lake 



EPH [ 93 J E P H 

" Toumefort says, that when he 
was at Ephesus, there were thir- 
ty or forty Greek families there. 
Chandler found only ten or 
twelve individuals. Now no hu- 
man being- lives in Ephesus 5 and 
in Aiasaluck, which may be con- 
sidered as Ephesus under another 
name, though not on precisely 
the same spot of ground, there 
are merely a few miserable 
Turkish huts. ' The candlestick 
is removed out of his place.' " 
Rev. 2:5. (See Miss. Herald, 
1821, p. 319.) 

EPHOD, an ornamental part 
of the dress worn by the He- 
brew priests. It was worn above 
the tunic and robe (meil) ; was 
without sleeves, and open below 
the arms on each side, consisting 
of two pieces, one of which cov- 
ered the front of the body, and 
the other the back, joined to- 
gether on the shoulders by golden 
buckles set with gems, and reach- 
ing down to the middle of the 
thigh. A girdle belonged to it, 
by which it was fastened around 
the body. Ex. 28:6— 12. There 
were two kinds of ephod; one 
plain, of linen, for the priests; 
another embroidered for the high- 
priest. 

EPHPHATHA, he opened, a 
Syriac word, which our Saviour 
pronounced, when he cured one 
deaf and dumb. Mark 7:34. 

EPHRAIM, the second son of 
Joseph, born in Egypt. Gen. 
41 : 52. Although the youngest, 
he yet had the chief blessing of his 
grandfather Jacob, and the tribe 
was always more distinguished 
than that of Manasseh. Gen. 
48 : 19. The portion of Ephraim 
extended from the Mediterranean 
across to the Jordan, north of the 
portions of Dan and Benjamin, 
and included Shiloh, Shechem, 
&c. A range of mountainous 
country, which runs through it, is 



of Sodom, S. E. of Jerusalem, 
not far from Jericho and the 
mouth of the river Jordan ; 
though some late travellers place 
it about the middle of the western 
shore of the lake. 

ENON, where John baptized, 
was on the Jordan, and is said to 
have been eight miles south of 
Beth-shan or Scythopolis. John 
3 '23. 

EN-ROGEL, see Rogel. 

EPAPHRAS and EPAPH- 
ROUITUS were probably the 
same person ; the former name 
being a contraction of the latter. 
This person was a friend and 
fellow laborer of Paul, and had 
preached the gospel at Colosse. 
Col. 1:7. 4:12. Phil. 4:18. 

EPHAH, a measure of ca- 
pacity used among the Hebrews, 
containing three pecks and three 
pints. The ephah was a dry 
measure ; as of barley, Ruth 2 : 
17; and meal, Numb. 5:15. 
Judg. 6 : 19 ; and was of the 
same capacity with the bath in 
liquids. See Bath. 

EPHESUS, a celebrated city 
of Asia Minor, situated near the 
mouth of the Cayster, about forty 
miles south of Smyrna. It was 
chiefly celebrated for the wor- 
ship and temple of Diana ; which 
last was accounted one of the 
seven wonders of the world. (See 
under Diana.) Paul first visited 
Ephesus about A. D. 54. Acts 
18:19,21. A church was after- 
wards gathered here ; to which 
Paul addressed an epistle during 
his imprisonment at Rome, full of 
the most pathetic and sublime 
feelings. The apostle John is 
said to have passed the latter 
part of his life at Ephesus, and 
to have died there. At present, 
the site of Ephesus is desolate. A 
few ruins only present themselves 
to the traveller. Mr. Fisk, who 
visited the place in 1821, writes, 



EP1 



[94] 



EPI 



called the mountains of Ephraim, 
or mount Ephraim. This ex- 
tends also, farther south, through 
the portion of Judah; and is 
there called the mountains of Ju- 
dah. Samaria, the capital of the 
ten tribes, being' in Ephraim, this 
latter name is often used for 
the kingdom of Israel. Isa. 
11:13. 

There was also a forest of 
Ephraim, where Absalom's army 
was defeated, 2 Sam. 18:6—17; 
and a city called Ephraim, to 
which Christ retired, John 11 : 
54. This last was probably in 
the confines of Ephraim, towards 
the Jordan. 

EPHRATAH, see Bethle- 
hem. 

EPICUREANS, Acts 17:18, 
the name of a celebrated sect of 
ancient philosophers, who placed 
happiness in pleasure; not in 
voluptuousness, but in sensible, 
rational pleasure, properly regu- 
lated and governed. They de- 
nied a Divine Providence, how- 
ever, and the immortality of the 
soul. They were so named after 
Epicurus, a philosopher, whom 
they claimed as founder of their 
sect; and who lived about 300 
years B. C. ; so that, whatever his 
doctrines originally were, the 
time that had elapsed since his 
death, was sufficient to allow of 
their debasement ; and his later 
disciples adopted the sensual im- 
port of their master's expressions, 
rather than the spiritual power of 
nis principles. 

EPISTLE, a letter written 
from one party to another ; but 
the term is eminently applied to 
those letters in the N. T. which 
were written by the apostles, on 
various occasions, to approve, 
condemn, or direct the conduct of 
Christian churches. It is not to 
be supposed that every note or 
memorandum written by the 



hands of the apostles, or by their 
direction, was divinely inspired 
or proper for preservation to 
distant ages ; those only have 
been preserved, by the overruling 
hand of Piovidence, from which 
useful directions had been drawn, 
and might in after ages be drawn, 
by believers, as from a perpetual 
directory for faith and practice ; 
always supposing that similar 
circumstances require similar di- 
rections. In reading an epistle, 
we ought to consider the occasion 
of it, the circumstances of the 
parties to whom it was addressed, 
the time when written, the genera! 
scope and design of it, as well as 
the intention of particular argu- 
ments and passages. We ought 
also to observe the style and 
manner of the writer, his mode of 
expression, the peculiar effect he 
designed to produce on those to 
whom he wrote, to whose temper, 
manners, general principles and 
actual situation, he might address 
his arguments, &c. 

Of the books of the N. T. twen- 
ty-one are epistles; fourteen of 
them by Paul, one by James, two 
by Peter, three by John, and one 
by Jude. Being placed in our 
canon without reference to their 
chronological order, they are pe- 
rused under considerable disad- 
vantages ; and it would be well 
to read them occasionally in con- 
nection with what the history in 
the Acts of the Apostles relates 
respecting the several churches 
to which they are addressed. 
This would also give us, nearly, 
their order of time, which should 
also be considered, together with 
the situation of the writer ; as it 
mav naturally be inferred, that 
such compositions would partake 
of the writer's recent and present 
feelings. The epistles addressed 
to the dispersed Jews by John 
and James, by Peter and Jude, 



! 



ESD 



[95] 



ESD 



are very different in their style 
and application from those of 
Paul written to the Gentiles ; and 
those of Paul, no doubt, contain 
expressions, and allude to facts, 
much more familiar to their origi- 
nal readers than to later ages. 

ERASTUS, a Christian friend 
of Paul, a Corinthian, and cham- 
berlain, i. e. steward, or treasurer, 
of the city. Rom. 16:23. He 
followed Paul to Ephesus, and 
became his travelling; companion. 

ESAR-HADDON, son of 
Sennacherib, and his successor 
as king of Assyria. 2 K. 19 :37. 
It is only said of him in Scrip- 
ture, that he sent colonists to Sa- 
maria. Ezra 4:2. He is sup- 
posed to be the Sardanapalus of 
profane historians. 

ESAU, the son of Isaac, and 
twin brother of Jacob. He was 
the eldest, but sold his birth-right 
to Jacob. He is also called 
Edom; and settled in the moun- 
tains south of the Dead sea, ex- 
tending to the gulf of Akaba, 
where he became very powerful. 
This country was called from 
him, the land of Edom, and 
afterwards Idumcp.a, which see. 

ESDRAELON, a plain in the 
tribe of Issachar, extending east 
and west from Scythopohs to 
mount Carmel : it is called also 
the great plain, and the valley of 
Jezreel. 

The following notices of this 

Elain are by Dr. Jowett. After 
saving Nazareth for Jerusalem, 
he says, " Our road, for the first 
three quarters of an hour, lay 
among the hills which lead to the 
plain of Esdraelon 5 upon which, 
when we were once descended, 
we had no more inconvenience, 
but rode, for the most part, on 
level ground, interrupted by only 

fentle ascents and descents, 
'his is that ' mighty plain' which, 
in every age, has been celebrated 



for so many battles. It wa3 
across this plain that the hosts of 
Barak chased Sisera and his 
nine hundred chariots of iron : 
from mount Tabor to that ancient 
river, the river Kishon, would be 
directly through the middle of it. 
At present, there is peace 5 but 
not that most visible evidence of 
enduring peace and civil protec- 
tion, a thriving population. We 
counted in our road across the 
plain, only five very small vil- 
lages, consisting of wretched 
mud-hovels, chiefly in ruins 5 and 
very few persons moving on the 
road. We might again truly apply 
to this scene, the words of Debo- 
rah, Judg. 5:6.7, The highways 
were unoccupied ; the inhabitants 
of the villages ceased- — they ceased 
in Israel. The soil is extremely 
rich ; and, in every direction, are 
the most picturesque views — the 
hills of Nazareth to the north j 
those of Samaria to the south j 
to the east, the mountains of Ta- 
bor and Hermon ; and Carmel 
to the south-west. About four 
o'clock in the afternoon, we ar- 
rived at the village of Gennyn, 
which is situated at the entrance 
of one of the numerous vales 
which lead out of the plain of Es- 
draelon to the mountainous re- 
gions of Ephraim. 

" From the window of the khan 
where we are lodging, we have 
a clear view of the tract over 
which the prophet Elijah must 
have passed, when he girded up 
his loins and ran before Ahab to 
the entrance of Jezreel. But, in 
the present day, no chariots of 
Ahab or of Sisera are to be seen ; 
not even a single wheel-carriage 
of any description whatever. We 
computed this plain to be at least 
fifteen miles square ; making al- 
lowance for some apparent irreg- 
ularities, such as its running out 
on the west, toward mount Car- 



ETH 



[9G 
opposite side 



EUP 



mel, and on the 
toward Jordan." 

ESPOUSE, ESPOUSALS. 

This was a ceremony of betroth- 
ing, or coming under obligation 
for the purpose of marriage 3 and 
was a mutual agreement between 
the two parties, which usually 
preceded the marriage some con- 
siderable time. The reader will 
do well carefully to attend to the 
distinction between espousals and 
marriage 3 as espousals in the 
East are frequently contracted 
years before the parties are mar- 
ried, and sometimes in very early 
youth. See Betrothing and 
Marriage. 

ESTHER, or Hadassah, of 
the tribe of Benjamin, daughter 
of Abihail. Her parents being 
dead, Mordecai, her uncle by her 
father's side, took care of her 
education. After Ahasuerus had 
divorced Vashti, search was 
made throughout Persia for the 
most beautiiul women, and Es- 
ther was one selected. She 
found favor in the eyes of the 
king, and he married her with 
royal magnificence, bestowing 
largesses and pardons on his 
people. The king Ahasuerus, 
her husband, was most probably 
Xerxes. Her history is contained 
in the Book of Esther, to which 
there are several chapters added 
in tlie Apocrypha. 

ETHIOPIA, one of the great 
kingdoms in Africa, part of which 
is now called Abyssinia. It is 
frequently mentioned in Scrip- 
ture under the name of Cush; 
and the various significations in 
which the name Cush or Ethiopia 
is taken in the O. T. have been 
mentioned under the article 
Cush ; which see. Ethiopia 
proper lay south of Egypt, on 
the Nile ; and was bounded north 
by Egypt, i. e. by the cataracts 
near Syene 5 east by the Red sea, 



and perhaps a part of the Indian 
ocean 3 south by unknown regions 
of the interior of Africa 3 and west 
by Libya and deserts. It com- 
prehended, of course, the modern 
countries of Nubia, or Sennaar, 
and Atyssinia. The chief city 
in it was the ancient Meroe, situ- 
ated on the island or tract of the 
same name, between the Nile and 
Astaboras, not far from the mod- 
ern Shendi. 

The Ethiopian queen Candace, 
whose treasurer is mentioned 
Acts 8: 27, was probably queen 
of Meroe, where a succession of 
females reigned, who all bore 
this name. As this courtier is 
said to have gone up to Jerusa- 
lem to worship, he was probably 
a Jew by religion, if not by 
birth. 

EUNUCH. In the courts of 
oriental monarchs, the charge of 
the female and interior apart- 
ments is committed to eunuchs. 
Hence the word came to signify 
generally a court-officer. Such 
were Potiphar, Joseph's master, 
and the treasurer of queen Can- 
dace. Acts 8:27. 

EUPHRATES, a famous river 
of Asia, which has its source in 
the mountains of Armenia, and 
runs along the frontiers of Cap- 
padocia, Syria, Arabia Deserta, 
Chaldea and Mesopotamia, and 
falls into the Persian gulf. At 
present, it discharges itself into 
the gulf in union with the Tigris, 
but formerly it had a separate 
channel. Scripture often calls it 
the Great River, and assigns it 
for the eastern boundary of that 
land which God promised to the 
Hebrews. Deut. 1 :7. Josh. 1 :4. 
The Euphrates overflows in sum- 
mer, like the Nile, when the snow 
on the mountains of Armenia 
begins to melt. The source of 
the Euphrates, as well as that of 
the Tigris, being in the moun- 






EVA 



[97] 



EXC 



tains of Armenia, some of the 
ancients were of opinion that 
these two rivers rose from one 
common spring; but at present 
their sources are distant one from 
the other. 

The Euphrates is a river of 
consequence in Scripture geog- 
raphy, being the utmost limit, 
east, of the territory of the 
Israelites. It was, indeed, only 
occasionally, that the dominion 
of the Hebrews extended so far ; 
but it would appear that even 
Egypt, under Pharaoh Necho, 
made conquests to the western 
bank of the Euphrates. Its gen- 
eral course is south-east ; but in 
some places it runs westerly, and 
approaches the Mediterranean, 
near Cilicia. It is accompanied 
in most parts of its course (about 
1400 miles ) by the Tigris. There 
are many towns on its banks, 
which are in general rather level 
than mountainous. The river 
does not appear to be of any 
very great breadth. At Hellah, 
the site of ancient Babylon, it is 
about 400 feet across. Near its 
mouth stands the modern city 
Bassorah or Bussorah, a place of 
some importance. 

EUROCLYDON, a dangerous 
wind in the Levant, or eastern 
part of the Mediterranean sea. 
Acts 27:14. It is usually said 
that this wind blows from the 
north-east; but perhaps it is 
what seamen call a Levanter, 
which is confined to no point of 
the compass, but, by veering to 
all points, is attended with great 
danger. 

EVANGELIST, one who pro- 
claims good news, either by 
preaching or writing. There 
were originally evangelists or 
preachers, who. without being 
fixed to any church, preached 
wherever they were led by the 
Holy Spirit. Such was Philip. 
9 



Acts 21:8. We commonly call 
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 
"the Evangelists," because they 
were the writers of the four Gos- 
pels, which bring the glad tidings 
of eternal salvation to all men. 

EVE, the first mother of our 
race, and the cause of our fall. 
Her history is so closely con- 
nected with that of Adam, that 
the remarks made in the article 
Adam applv also to her. 

EVENING. The Hebrews 
reckoned two evenings in each 
day ; as in the phrase between the 
evenings. Marg. Ex. 12:6. Num. 
9:3. 28:4. In this interval the 
passover was to be killed, and the 
daily evening sacrifice offered. 
Ex. 29 : 39—41, Heb. According 
to the Caraltes, this time between 
the evenings is the interval from 
sunset to complete darkness, i. e. 
the evening twilight. Comp. 
Deut. 16:6. According to the 
Pharisees and the rabbins, the 
first evening began when the sun 
inclined to descend more rapidly, 
i. e. at the ninth hour ; while the 
second or real evening commen- 
ced at sunset. 

EXCOMMUNICATION, an 
ecclesiastical penalty, by which 
they who incur the guilt of any 
heinous sin, are separated from 
the church, and deprived of spir- 
itual advantages. There are two 
sorts of excommunication. (1.) 
The greater, by which the person 
offending is separated from the 
body of the faithful ; thus Paul 
excommunicated the incestuous 
Corinthian. 1 Cor. 5:1— 5. (2.) 
The lesser, by which the sinner 
is forbidden the sacraments. 

The principal effect of excom- 
munication is, to separate the 
excommunicated from the society 
of Christians, from the privilege 
of being present in religious as- 
semblies, from attendance at the 
prayers, the sacraments, and all 



EXO 



[98] 



EXO 



those duties by which Christians 
are connected in one society and 
communion An excommuni- 
cated person, is, with regard to 
the church, as a heathen man and 
a publican. Matt. 18:17. But 
this excision from Christian com- 
munion does not exempt him 
from any duties to which he is 
liable as a man, a citizen, a 
father, a husband, either by the 
law of nature and nations, or by 
the civil law. And when the 
apostles enjoin men to have no 
conversation with the excom- 
municated, not to eat with them, 
not even to salute them, this is to 
be understood of offices of mere 
civility, (which a man is at liber- 
ty to pay, or to withhold,) and not 
of any natural obligations 5 such 
as are founded on nature, human- 
ity, and the law of nations. 
ICor. 5:1—5. 2 Thess. 3:6— 
14. 2 John ver. 10,11. See 
Anathema. 

EXODUS, the name of the 
second book of the Pentateuch 
in the O. T. so called because it 
contains an account of the exo- 
dus or departure of the Israel- 
ites out of Egypt. 

This departure from Egypt, 
and the subsequent wanderings 
of the children of Israel in the 
desert, form one of the great 
epochs in their history. They 
were constantly led b}' Jehovah ; 
and the whole series of events is 
a constant succession of mira- 
cles. From their breaking up at 
Rameses, to their arrival on the 
confines of the promised land, 
there was an interval of forty- 
years, during which one whole 
generation passed away, and the 
whole Mosaic law was given, 
and sanctioned by the thunders 
and lightnings of Sinai. There 
is no portion of history extant, 
which so displays the constant 
and also miraculous interposition 



of an overruling Providence in 
the affairs both of nations and 
of individuals, as that which re- 
counts these wanderings of Is- 
rael. 

The Israelites broke up from 
Rameses, in the land of Goshen, 
i. e. HeroOpolis, about forty miles 
N. AV. of Suez, on the ancient 
canal which united the Nile with 
the Red sea. They set off on 
the fifteenth day of the first month, 
the da} 7 after the passover, i. e. 
about the middle of April. They 
came, in three days' march, to 
the Red sea near Suez ; where, 
b}' means of a strong north-east 
wind, God miraculously drove 
out the waters of the sea, in such 
a way, that the Israelites passed 
over "the bed of it on dry ground 5 
while the Egyptians who attempt- 
ed to follow them, were drowned 
by the returning waters. The 
Israelites then advanced along 
the eastern shore of the Red sea, 
and through the valleys and des- 
ert, to mount Sinai, where they 
arrived in the third month, or 
June, probably about the middle 
of it, having been two months on 
their journey. Here the law was 
chiefly given ; and here they 
abode during all the transactions 
recorded in the remainder of Ex- 
odus, in Leviticus, and in the first 
nine chapters of Numbers ; i. e. 
until the twentieth day of the 
second month (May) in the fol- 
lowing year, a period of about 
eleven months. 

Breaking up at this time from 
Sinai, tnev marched northwards 
through the desert of Paran to 
Kadesh-barnea, whence the spies 
were sent out to view the prom- 
ised land, and brought back an 
evil report, probably in August 
of the same year. The people 
murmured, and were directed by 
Jehovah to turn back and wan- 
der in the desert, until their car- 






EXO 



[99] 



EYE 



casses should all fall in the wil- 
derness. This they did, wan- 
dering from one station to another 
in the great desert of Paran, 
lying south of Palestine, and also 
in the great sandy valley called 
El-Glior and EL-Araba, which 
extends from the Dead sea to the 
gulf of Akaba, the eastern arm 
of the Red sea. (See Jordan.) 
The thirty-third chapter of Num- 
bers gives a list of these stations, 
as they advanced southwards to 
Ezion-gaber ; and then mentions 
their return to Kadesh, in the first 
month, Num. 20:1, after an in- 
terval of almost thirty-eight 
years. While thus a second time 
encamped at Kadesh, Moses sent 
to the king of Idumea, to ask 
liberty to pass through his do- 
minions, i. e. through the chain 
of mountains (mount Seir) lying 
along the eastern side of the 
great valley El-Ghor. (See 
Idumea.) This was refused; 
and Israel therefore, being too 
weak to penetrate into Palestine 
from the south, on account of 
the powerful tribes of Canaanites 
there, was compelled to march 
southwards, along the valley El- 
Ghor, to the eastern gulf of the 
Red sea at Ezion-gaber. Here 
they crossed the eastern moun- 
tains, and then turned north 
along the eastern desert, by the 
route which the great Syrian 
caravan of Mohammedan pil- 
grims now passes in going to 
Mecca. While thus again march- 
ing south, Aaron died on mount 
Hor, which is on the east side of 
the great valley, among the 
mountains of Edom. They ar- 
rived at the brook Zered, on 
the borders of Moab, just forty 
years after their departure from 
Egypt. 

For a full account of all these 
wanderings, and a discussion of 
the geographical and other diffi- 



culties attending the subject, the 
reader is referred to the octavo 
edition of Calmet, p. 4C9, &c. 
and to the Bibl. Repos. vol. II, 
p. 743, &c. 

EXORCISTS. From a Greek 
word signifying to conjure, to use 
the name of God, with design to 
expel devils from places or bod- 
ies which they possess. We see 
from the early apologists of our 
religion, that the devils dreaded 
the exorcisms of Christians, who 
exercised great power against 
those wicked spirits. The Jews 
had their exorcists, as cur Lord 
intimates, Matt. 12:27, and as do 
also the apostles, in Mark 9:38. 
Acts 19:13. 

EXPIATION, or Atone- 
ment, the great day of, was the 
tenth day of the seventh month,, 
or Tizri. The ceremonies of this 
dav are prescribed in Lev. c. 16, 

EYE-LIES. As it is not cus- 
tomary among us for women to 
paint their eye-lids, particularly, 
we do not usually perceive the 
full import of the expressions in 
Scripture referring to this custom,, 
which appears to be of very 
great antiquity, and which is still 
maintained in the East. So we 
read, 2 K. 9 :30, " Jezebel paint- 
ed her face/' Heb. " put her 
eyes in paint :" more correctly,. 
" she painted the internal part of 
her eye-lids/ 7 by drawing be- 
tween them a silver wire, pre- 
viously wetted, and dipped in 
the powder of phuk, a rich lead 
ore, which, adhering to the eye- 
lids, formed a streak of black 
upon them, thereby, apparently,, 
enlarging the eyes, and render- 
ing their effect more powerful ; 
invigorating their vivacity. This 
action is strongly referred to by 
Jeremiah, c. 4:30, in our transla- 
tion, " Though thou rentest thy 
face with painting;" or, though 
thou cause thine eye-lids to seem 



EZE 



[100] 



EZR 



to be starting' out of thine head, 
through the strength of the black 
paint which is applied to them, 
yet shall tnat decoration be in 
vain. 

Many authors have mentioned 
the custom which has prevailed 
from time immemorial among 
the females of the East, of ting- 
ing the eyes and edges of the 
eye-lids with a powder, which, at 
a distance, or by candle-light, 
adds much to the blackness of 
the eyes. " The females of Ara- 
bia/' Niebuhr says, " color their 
nails blood-red, and their hands 
and feet yellow, with the herb 
Al-henna. (See Camphire.) 
They also tinge the inside of their 
eye-lids coal-black with kochel, 
a coloring material prepared 
from lead ore. They not only 
enlarge their eye-brows, but also 
paint other figures of black, as 
ornaments, upon the face and 
hands. Sometimes they even 
prick through the skin, in various 
figures, and then lay certain sub- 
stances upon the wounds, which 
eat in so deeply, that the orna- 
ments thus impressed are ren- 
dered permanent for life. All 
this the Arabian women esteem 
as beauty." 

EZEKIEL, son of Buzi, a 
prophet of the sacerdotal race, 
was carried captive to Babylon 
by Nebuchadnezzar, with Jehoia- 
chin king of Judah. He began 
his ministry in the thirtieth year 
of his age, according to the gen- 
eral account ; but perhaps in the 
thirtieth year after the covenant 
was renewed with God in the 
reign of Josiah, Ezek. 1 :1, which 
answers to the fifth year of Eze- 
kiel's captivity. He prophesied 
twenty years ; till the fourteenth 



year after the taking of Jerusa- 
lem. 

The Book of Ezekiel abounds 
with sublime visions of the di- 
vine glory, and awful denuncia- 
tions against Israel for their re- 
bellious spirit against God, and 
the abominations of their idola- 
try. It contains also similar de- 
nunciations against Tyre, and 
other hostile nations. The latter 
part of the book contains oracles 
respecting the return and restora- 
tion of the people of God. 

EZION-GABER, or Ezion- 
Geber, a city at the northern ex- 
tremity of the Elanitic or eastern 
gulf of the Red sea, and close 
by Elath. At this port Solomon 
equipped his fleets for the voy- 
age to Ophir. Deut. 2:8. IK. 
9:26. See Elath and Exo- 
dus. 

EZRA, a celebrated priest 
and leader of the Jewish nation. 
He appears to have enjoyed 
great consideration in the Persian 
court. He obtained letters from 
Artaxerxes Longimanus, and 
went at the head of a large 
party of returning exiles to Jeru- 
salem. Here he instituted many 
reforms in the conduct of the 
people, and in the public wor- 
ship. He is generally supposed 
to have collected and revised all 
the books of Scripture, and to 
have formed the present canon. 

The Book of Ezra contains a 
history of the return of the Jews 
from the time of Cyrus ; with an 
account of his own subsequent 
proceedings. There are two 
apocryphal books ascribed to 
him under the name of Esdras, 
which is only the Greek form of 
the name Ezra. 



FAM 



[101 ] 



FAS 



FAITH is the assent of the 
Understanding - to any truth. Re- 
ligious faith is assent to the truth 
of divine revelation and of the 
events and doctrines contained in 
it. This may be merely histor- 
ical, without producing any effect 
on our lives and conversation ; 
and it is then a dead faith, such 
as the devils also have. But a 
living or saving faith, not only 
believes the great doctrines of re- 
ligion as true, but embraces them 
with the heart and affections ; and 
is thus the source of sincere obe- 
dience to the divine will, exhibited 
in life and conversation. Faith in 
Christ is a grace wrought in the 
heart by the Holy Spirit, where- 
by we receive Christ as our Sa- 
viour, our Prophet, Priest, and 
King-, and love and obey him as 
such. In Rom. 1:8, faith is put 
for the exhibition of faith, in the 
practice of all the duties implied 
in a profession of faith. 

FAITHFUL, an appellation 
given in Scripture to professing 
Christians, to all who had been 
baptized; and it is used to this 
day in that application in ecclesi- 
astical languaje. See 1 Cor. 
4:17. Eph. 6:21. Col. 4:9. 
1 Pet. 5:12. Acts 16:15, and 
many other passages. 

FAMINE. Scripture records 
several famines in Palestine, and 
the neighboring countries. Gen. 
12:10. 26:1. The most re- 
markable one was that of seven 
years in Egypt, while Joseph 
was governor. It was dis- 
tinguished for its duration, ex- 
tent, and severity ; particularly 
as Egypt is one of the countries 
least subject ♦.o such a calamity, 
by reason of its general fertility. 
Famine is sometimes a natural 
9* 



effect, as when the Nile does nof 
overflow in Egypt, or rains do 
not fall in Judea, at the custom- 
ary seasons, spring and autumn j- 
or when caterpillars, locusts, 
or other insects, destroy the 
fruits. 

FAN, an instrument used for 
winnowing corn. In the East, 
fans are of two kinds ; one a 
sort of fork, having - teeth, with 
which the}- throw up the corn to 
the wind, that the chaff may be 
blown away ; the other is formed 
to produce wind when the air is 
calm. Isa. 30:24. Our Lord is- 
represented as having his fan in 
his hand, in order to purge his 
floor. By the Christian dispen- 
sation, and the moral influence 
which it introduced, men are 
placed in a state of trial, and 
the righteous separated from the 
wicked. Matt. 3:12. See 
Threshing, and the plate. 

FASTING has, in all ages, 
and among all nations, been 
practised in times of mourning, 
sorrow, and affliction. It is in 
some sort inspired by nature, 
which, under these circumstances, 
refuses nourishment, and sus- 
pends the cravings of hunger. 
In the Bible we see no example 
of fasting, proper!}- so called, 
before Moses. The Jews, in 
times of public calamity, ap- 
pointed extraordinary fasts, and 
made even the children at the 
breast fast. See Joel 2:16. 
They began the observance of 
their fasts in the evening after 
sunset, and remained without 
eating- until the same hour the 
next day. 

It does not appear by his own 
practice, or by his commands, 
that our Lord instituted any par- 



FEA 



[ 102 ] 



FES 



tieular fast. When, however, 
the Pharisees reproached him, 
that his disciples did not fast so 
often as theirs, or as John the 
Baptist's, he replied, '* Can ye 
make the children of the bride- 
chamber fast, while the bride- 
groom is with them 1 But the 
days will come, when the bride- 
groom shall be taken away from 
them, and then shall they fast in 
those days." Luke 5:34,35. 
Accordingly, the life of the apos- 
tles and first believers was a life 
of self-denials, of sufferings, aus- 
terities and fastings. 

FEASTS. God appointed 
several festivals, or days of rest 
and worship, among the Jews, to 
perpetuate the memory of great 
events wrought in favor of them : 
the Sabbath commemorated the 
creation of the world ; the Pass- 
over, the departure out of Egypt ; 
the Pentecost, the law given at 
Sinai, &c. Of the three great 
feasts of the year, (the Passover, 
Pentecost, and that of Taberna- 
cles,) the octave, or the eighth 
day, was a day of rest as much 
as the festival itself; and all the 
males of the nation were obliged 
to visit the temple. See those 
articles. 

In the Christian church, we 
have no festival that clearly ap- 
pears to have been instituted by 
our Saviour, or his apostles ; but 
as we commemorate his passion 
as often as we celebrate his sup- 
per, he has hereby seemed to 
institute a perpetual feast. Chris- 
tians have always celebrated the 
memory of his resurrection on 
every Sunday. We see from 
Rev. 1 : 10, that it was commonly 
called " the Lord's day." 

The master or governor of a 
feast, was a person appointed to 
give directions to the servants, 
and to superintend every thing. 
It was part of his business to 



taste the wine and present it to 
the guests. John 2:8,9. 

The Feasts of Love or Charity f 
Jude ver. 12, were public ban- 
quets of a frugal kind, instituted 
by the primitive Christians, and 
connected b} r them with the cele- 
bration of the Lord's supper. The 
provisions, &c. were contributed 
by the more wealthy, and were 
common to all Christians, whether 
rich or poor, who chose to par- 
take. Portions were also sent to 
the sick and absent members. 
These lore-feasts were intended 
as an exhibition of mutual Chris- 
tian affection ; but they became 
subject to abuses, and were after- 
wards discontinued. Compare 
1 Cor. 1 1 : 17—34. 

FEET, see Foot. 

FELIX, see Claudius Fe- 
lix. 

FERRET, a sort of weasel, 
which Moses forbids, as unclean. 
Lev. 11 : 30. The Hebrew word, 
however, means rather a species 
of lizard. 

FESTUS, Portius, suc- 
ceeded Felix in the government 
of Judea, A. D. 58. To oblige 
the Jews, Felix, when he resigned 
his government, left Paul in 
bonds at Csesarea in Palestine, 
Acts 24:27 ; and when Festus ar- 
rived, he was entreated by the 
principal Jews to condemn the 
apostle, or to order him up to 
Jerusalem ; they having con- 
spired to assassinate him in the 
way. Festus, however, an- 
swered, that it was not customary 
with the Romans to condemn 
any man without hearing him ; 
and promised to hear their accu- 
sations at Caesarea. But Paul 
appealed to Caesar ; and so se- 
cured himself from the prosecu- 
tion of the Jews, and the inten- 
tions of Festus. — Finding how 
much robberies abounded in Ju- 
dea, Festus very diligently pur- 



FIG 



[103] 



FIR 



sued the thieves 3 and he also 
suppressed a magician, who drew 
the people after him into the 
desert. He died in Judea, A. D. 
62, and Albinus succeeded him. 

FIG. The fig-tree is common 
in Palestine and the East, and 
flourishes with the greatest luxu- 
riance in those barren and stony 
situations, where little else will 
grow. Figs are of two sorts, the 
u boccore/ 7 and the " kermouse. 77 
The black and white boccore, or 
early fig, is produced in June ; 
though the kermouse, the fig 
properly so called, which is pre- 
served, and make up into cakes, 
is rarely ripe before August. 
There is also a long dark-colored 
kermouse, that sometimes hangs 
upon the trees all winter. 

The fruit of the fig-tree is one 
of the delicacies of the East 3 and 
is of course very often spoken of 
in Scripture. Dried figs are 
probably like those which are 
brought to our owu country 3 
sometimes, however, they are 
dried on a string. We likewise 
read of cakes of Jigs, 1 Sam. 
25:18.- 1 Chron. 12:40. 2 K. 
20:7. These were probably 
formed by pressing the fruit forci- 
bly into baskets or other vessels, 
so as to reduce them to a solid 
•cake or lump. In this way dates 
are still prepared in Arabia. In 
Djedda, Burckhardt remarks, 
are "eight date-sellers; at the 
end of June the new fruit comes 
in; this lasts two months, after 
which, for the remainder of the 
year, the date-paste, called 
•adjoue, is sold. This is formed 
by pressing the dates, when fully 
ripe, into large baskets, so forci- 
bly as to reduce them to a hard, 
solid paste or cake, each basket 
weighing usually about 200 
Weight 3 in the market, it is cut 
out of the basket, and sold by 
iho pound." He describes also 



smaller baskets, weighing about 
ten pounds each. See under 
Flagon. 

FIR, an evergreen tree, of 
beautiful appearance, whose 
lofty height and dense foliage 
afford a spacious shelter and 
shade. The Hebrew word 
seems, however, to mean the cy- 
press ; or possibly an evergreen 
tree in general. 

FIRMAMENT. Moses says 
that God made a firmament in 
the midst of the waters to sep- 
arate the inferior from the supe- 
rior waters. By this word, the 
Hebrews understood the heavens, 
which, like a solid and immense 
arch, served as a barrier between 
the upper and lower waters, 
having windows, through which, 
when opened, the upper waters 
descended and formed the rain. 
But we are not to infer from this 
idea of the ancient Hebrews, that 
it really was so ; in matters indif- 
ferent, the sacred writers gener- 
ally suit their expressions to pop- 
ular conceptions. 

FIRST-BORN. This phrase 
is not always to be understood 
literally ; it is sometimes taken 
for the prime, most excellent, 
most distinguished of things. 
Thus " Jesus Christ" is " the 
first-born of every creature, the 
first-begotten, or first-born from 
the dead ;" begotten of the 
Father before any creature was 
produced ; the first who rose from 
the dead by his own power. — 
After the destroying angel had 
killed the first-born of the Egyp- 
tians, God ordained that all the 
Jewish first-born, both of men 
and of beasts for service, should 
be consecrated to him 3 but the 
male children only were subject 
to this law. If a man had many 
wives, he was obliged to offer the 
first-born son by each one of 
them to the Lord. The first-born 



FIR 



[104] 



FIS 



were offered at the temple ; and 
redeemed for five shekels. The 
firstling of a clean beast was 
offered at the temple, not to be 
redeemed, but to be killed ; an 
unclean beast, a horse, an ass, 
or a camel, was either redeemed 
or exchanged; an ass was re- 
deemed by a lamb or five shek- 
els ; if not redeemed, it was 
killed. Ex. 13;2,11, &c. The 
first-born son among the He- 
brews, as among all other nations, 
enjoyed particular privileges. 
See Birth-Right. 

FIRST-FRUITS were pres- 
ents made to God, of part of the 
fruits of the harvest, to express 
the submission, dependence, and 
thankfulness of the offerers. 
They were offered in the tem- 
ple, before the crop was gath- 
ered ; and, when the harvest was 
over, before any private persons 
ised their corn. The first of 
these first-fruits, offered in the 
name of the nation, was a sheaf 
of barley, gathered on the fif- 
teenth of Nisan, in the evening, 
and threshed in a court of the 
temple. After it was well 
cleaned, about three pints of it 
were roasted, and pounded in a 
mortar. Over this was thrown a 
measure of oil, and a handful of 
incense; and the priest, taking 
the offering, waved it before the 
Lord towards the four cardinal 
points, throwing a handful of it 
into the fire on the altar, and 
keeping the rest. After this, all 
were at liberty to get in the 
harvest. When the wheat har- 
vest was over, on the day of Pen- 
tecost, they offered as first-fruits 
of another kind, in the name of 
the nation, two loaves, of two 
assarons (about three pints) of 
flour each, made of leavened 
dough. In addition to these 
first-fruits, every private person 
was obliged to bring his first- 



fruits to the temple ; but Scrip- 
ture prescribes neither the time 
nor the quantity. 

There was, besides this, anoth- 
er sort of first-fruits paid to God, 
Numbers 15:19,21. When the 
bread in the family was kneaded, 
a portion of it was set apart, and 
given to the priest, or Levite. of 
the place : if there were no priest, 
or Levite, it was cast into the 
oven, and there consumed. 

Those offerings are also often 
called first-fruits, which were 
brought by the Israelites from 
devotion, to the temple, for the 
feasts of thanksgiving, to which 
they invited their relations and 
friends, and the Levites of their 
cities. The first-fruits and tenths 
were the most considerable rev- 
enue of the priests and Levites. 

Paul says, Christians have the 
first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, i. e. 
a greater abundance of God's 
Spirit, more perfect and more 
excellent gifts, than the Jews. 
" Christ is risen from the dead, 
and become the first-fruits of 
them that slept," 1 Cor. 15:20, 
the first-begotten from the dead, 
or the first-born of those who 
rose again. 

FISH, FISHERS. The He- 
brews have the general name 
fish ; but very few names of par- 
ticular species. Moses says in 
general, that all sorts of river, 
lake or sea fish, which have 
scales and fins, may be eaten ; 
all others shall be to the Hebrews 
an abomination. Lev. 11:9, &c. 
The great fish, Jon. 1 : 17, which, 
swallowed Jonah, was probably 
a shark ; as this animal is com- 
mon in the Mediterranean. In 
the N. T. it is wrongly translated 
«>fc«/e,Matt.l2:40. (See Jonah.) 
Fishermen are often spoken of 
in the Bible, and a large propor- 
tion of the twelve apostles of our 
Lord were of that occupation. 



FLA 



[105] 



FLY 



FITCHES, or VETCHES, a 
species of wild pea. Two He- 
brew words are translated by 
fitches; one of which probably 
means rye or spelt ; and the other 
gith, a plant resembling- fennel, 
and very pungent. 

FLAGON. The Hebrew word 
every where rendered in the 
English version Jictgon, 2 Sam. 
6:19. 1 Chr. 16:3. Hos. 3:1. 
Cant. 2:5, means rather a cake, 
especially of dried grapes or rai- 
sins, pressed into a particular 
form. These are mentioned as 
delicacies, by which the weary 
and languid were refreshed j 
they were also offered to idols. 
Hos. 3:1. They differed from 
the dried clusters of grapes not 
pressed into any form, 1 Sam. 
25:18; and also from the cakes 
of figs. We may compare the 
manner "in which with us cheeses 
are pressed in various forms, as 
of pine-apples, &c. and also the 
manner in which dates are pre- 
pared at the present day by the 
Arabs. See under Figs. 

FLAX, a well-known plant, 
upon which the industry of man- 
kind has been exercised with the 
greatest success and utility. 
Moses speaks of the flax in 
Egypt, Ex. 9:31, which country 
has been celebrated, from time 
immemorial, for its production 
and manufacture. The " fine 
linen of Egypt," which was 
manufactured from this article, is 
spoken of for its superior excel- 
lence, in Scripture. Prov. 7:16. 
Ezek. 27:7. It is, however, 
probable that fine cotton is also 
sometimes to be understood, 
when the byssus is spoken of. 
The Egyptian fine linen and cot- 
ton would make but a sorry figure 
in the present day, in comparison 
with modern manufactures from 
the same materials. That which 
bas been found wrapped around 



mummies, apparently persons of 
high quality, would hardly com- 
pare with our common sheetings. 

The prophet Isaiah, in speak- 
ing of the gentleness of the Mes- 
siah, makes use of a proverbial 
expression, which is also quoted 
by Matthew and applied to Jesus. 
" The bruised reed he shall not 
break, and the smoking flax he 
shall not quench. 7 ' Isa. 42:3. 
Matt. 12 : 20. Here flax is used 
for the wick of a lamp or taper, 
which was usually made of flax. 
The idea then is, that he will not 
break a reed already bruised and 
ready to be broken, nor extin- 
guish a flickering, dying lamp, 
just ready to expire ; i. e. he will 
not, in the manner of the Phari- 
sees and Jewish doctors, oppress 
his humble and penitent followers 
with a burden of ceremonial ob- 
servances. 

FLESH, the substance of 
which the bodies of men and an- 
imals are composed.* In the 
Bible, it is often used to designate 
the bodily appetites, propensities 
and passions, which draw men 
away from yielding themselves 
to the Lord and to the things of 
the Spirit. The flesh, or carnal 
principle, is opposed to the spirit, 
or spiritual principle. Gal. 5 : 17. 
Rom. c. 8. 

FLOOD, see Deluge. 

FLUTE, a soft, sweet-toned 
wind instrument of music. It is 
mentioned in the Bible ; but it is 
doubtful whether the Hebrew 
word does not rather mean pipe 
in general. Dan. 3:5. 

FLY, a genus of insects, of 
which there are a great many 
species. Moses declares them 
and most other insects to be un- 
clean. Lev. 11 : 42. The Philis- 
tines and Canaanites adored 
Beelzebub, the fly-god ; probably 
as a patron to protect them 
against these tormenting insects. 



FLY 



[ 105] 



FOO 



In Isa. 7:18, the prophet says, 
" And it shall come to pass in 
that day, that the Lord shall hiss 
for the fly that is in the uttermost 
part of the rivers of Egypt. And 
they shall come, and shall rest all 
of them in the desolate valleys, 
and in the holes of the rocks, and 
upon all thorns, and upon all 
bushes." This seems to refer to 
the zimb, or Ethiopian fly, which 
is thus spoken of by Mr. Bruce : 
" It is, in size, very little larger 
than a bee, of a thicker propor- 
tion, and has wings which are 
broader than those of a bee, 
placed separate, like those of a 
fly 5 they are of pure gauze, 
without color or spot upon them ; 
the head is large. As soon as this 
plague appears, and their buzz- 
ing is heard, all the cattle forsake 
their food, and run wildly about 
the plain, till they die, worn out 
with fatigue, fright and hunger. 
No remedy remains, but to leave 
the black earth, and hasten down 
to the sands of the desert ; and 
there they remain, while the rains 
last, this cruel enemy never 
daring to pursue them farther. 

" Though his size is immense, 
as is his strength, and his body 
covered with a thick skin, de- 
fended with strong hair, yet even 
the camel is not able to sustain 
the violent punctures the fly 
makes with his pointed proboscis. 
He must lose no time in removing 
to the sands ; for, when once at- 
tacked by this fly, his body, head 
and legs break out into large 
bosses, which swell, break and 
putrefy, to the certain destruction 
of the creature. Even the ele- 
phant and rhinoceros, who, by 
reason of their enormous bulk, 
and the vast quantity of food and 
water they daily need, cannot 
shift to desert and dry places, as 
the season may require, are 
obliged to roll themselves in mud 



and mire j which, when dry r 
coats them over like armor, and 
enables them to stand their 
ground against this winged 
assassin. 

" All the inhabitants of the sea- 
coast of Melinda, and the south 
coast of the Red sea, are obliged 
to put themselves in motion, and 
remove to the next sand, in the 
beginning of the rainy season, to 
prevent all their stock of cattle 
from being destroyed. This is 
not a partial emigration ; the in- 
habitants of all the countries, 
from the mountains of Abyssinia 
northward, to the confluence of 
the Nile and Astaboras, are once 
a year obliged to change their 
abode and seek protection among 
the sands of the desert." 

FOOL, in Scripture, means 
not only an idiot, but a person 
who does not act wisely, i. e. 
does not follow the warnings and 
requirements of God, which are 
founded in infinite wisdom. 
Hence, a fool is put for a wicked 
man, an enemy or neglecter of 
God. So folly is put for wicked- 
ness ; foolish lusts for wicked 
lusts, &c. Foolish talking, fool- 
ish questions, are vain, empty r 
unprofitable conversation. 

FOOT. Nakedness of feet 
was a sign of mourning. God 
says to Ezekiel, " Make no 
mourning for the dead, and put 
on thy shoes upon thy feet," &c. 
It was likewise a mark of respect. 
Moses put off his shoes to ap- 
proach the burning bush; and 
most commentators are of opin- 
ion, that the priests served in the 
tabernacle with their feet naked, 
as they did afterwards in the 
temple. The Turks never enter 
their mosques till after they have 
washed their feet and their hands, 
and have put off the outward cov- 
ering of their legs. The Christians 
of Ethiopia enter their churches 



FOX 



[107] 



FOX 



with their shoes off, and the In- 
dian Brahmans and others have 
the same respect for their pago- 
das and temples. 

Washing of Feet. (See also 
under Sandals.) The orientals 
used to wash the feet of strangers 
who came ofF a journey, because 
they commonly walked with their 
legs bare, and their feet were 
defended only by sandals. So 
Abraham washed the feet of the 
three angels. Gen. 18:4. This of- 
fice was commonly performed by 
servants and slaves ; and hence 
Abigail answers David, who 
sought her in marriage, that she 
should think it an honor to wash 
the feet of the king's servants. 
1 Sam. 25.41. When Paul re- 
commends hospitality, he would 
have a widow assisted by the 
church, to be one who had washed 
the feet of saints. 1 Tim. 5:10. 
Our Saviour, after his last supper, 
gave his last lesson of humility, 
by washing his disciples' feet. 
John 13:5,6. 

FORNICATION. This word 
is used in Scripture not only for 
the sin of impurity between un- 
married persons, but for idolatry, 
and for all kinds of infidelity to 
God. Adultery and fornication 
are frequently confounded. Both 
the Old and New Testaments 
condemn all impurity and forni- 
cation, corporeal and spiritual ; 
idolatry, apostasy, heresy, infi- 
delity, &c. See Adultery. 

FORTUNATUS, mentioned 
1 Cor. 16 : 17, came from Corinth 
to Ephesus, to visit Paul. We 
have no particulars of his life or 
death, only that Paul calls Ste- 
phanus, Fortunatus and Achatcus 
the first-fruits of Achaia, and set 
for the service of the church and 
saints. They carried Paul's first 
epistle to Corinth. 

FOWL, see Birds. 

FOX, or Jackal. It is no 



easy matter to determine whether 
the animal intended be the com- 
mon fox, or the jackal, the little 
eastern fox, as Hasselquist calls 
him. Several of the modern ori- 
ental names of the jackal, from 
their resemblance to the Hebrew, 
favor the latter interpretation ; 
and Dr. Shaw, and other travel- 
lers, inform us, that while jackals 
are very numerous in Palestine, 
the common fox is rarely to be 
met with. 

The jackal, or thaleb, as he 
is called in Arabia and Egypt, 
is said to be of the size of a mid- 
dling dog, resembling the fox in 
the Hinder parts, particularly the 
tail; and the wolf in the fore 
parts, especially the nose. Its 
legs are shorter than those of the 
fox, and its color is of a bright 
yellow. There seem to be many 
varieties among them ; those of 
the warmest climates appear to 
be the largest, and their color is 
rather of a reddish brown, than 
of that beautiful yellow by which 
the smaller jackal is chiefly dis 
tinguished. 

Although the species of the 
wolf approaches very near to 
that of the dog, yet the jackal 
seems to be placed between 
them 3 to the savage fierceness 
of the wolf, it adds the impudent 
familiarity of the dog. Its cry is 
a howl, mixed with barking, and 
a lamentation resembling that of 
human distress. It is more noisy 
in its pursuits even than the dog 
and more voracious than the 
wolf. The jackal never goes 
alone, but always in a pack of 
forty or fifty together. These 
unite regularly every day, to 
form a combination against the 
rest of the forest. Nothing then 
can escape them ; they are con- 
tent to take up with the smallest 
animals ; and yet, when thus 
united, they have courage to face 



FRA 



[108] 



FRO 



the largest. They seem very 
little afraid of mankind, but pur- 
sue their game to the very doors, 
testifying neither attachment nor 
apprehension. They enter inso- 
lently into the sheepfolds, the 
yards and the stables, and, when 
they can find nothing else, de- 
vour leather harness, boots and 
shoes, and run off with what they 
have not time to swallow. They 
not only attack the living, but the 
dead. They scratch up with 
their feet the new-made graves, 
and devour the corpse, how putrid 
soever. In those countries, there- 
fore, where they abound, they 
are obliged to beat the earth over 
the grave, and to mix it with 
thorns, toprevent the jackals from 
scraping it away. They always 
assist each other, as well in this 
employment of exhumation as in 
that of the chase ; and while at 
their dreary work, exhort each 
other by a most mournful cry. 
resembling that of children under 
chastisement ; and when they 
have thus dug up a body, they 
share it amicably between them. 
Like all other savage animals, 
when they have once tasted hu- 
man flesh, they can never after 
refrain from pursuing mankind. 
They watch the burying-grounds, 
follow armies, and keep in the 
rear of caravans. They may be 
considered as the vulture of the 
quadruped kind ; every thing that 
once had animal life seems equal- 
ly agreeable to them ; the most 
putrid substances are greedily 
devoured ; dried leather, and 
any thing that has been rubbed 
with grease 5 how insipid soever 
in itself, this is sufficient to make 
the whole go down. Such is the 
character which naturalists have 
furnished of the jackal or oriental 
fox. 

FRANKINCENSE, see In- 
cense. 



FRONTLETS are thus de 
scribed by Leo of Modena : The 
Jews take four pieces of parch- 
ment, and write, with an ink made 
on purpose, and in square letters, 
these four passages, one on each 
piece: (1.) "Sanctify unto me 
all the first-born," &c. Ex. 13 : 2 
—10. (2.) From verse 11 to 16, 
" And when the Lord shall bring 
thee into the land of the Canaan- 
ites/'&c. (3.)Deut.6:4,"Hear, 
O Israel ; the Lord our God is 
one Lord," to verse 9. (4.) Deut. 
11:13, "If you shall hearken 
diligently unto my command- 
ments/' to verse 21. This they 
do in obedience to the words of 
Moses : " These commandments 
shall be for a sign unto thee upon 
thine hand, and for a memorial 
between thine eyes." 




These four pieces are fastened 
together, and a square formed of 
them, on which the Hebrew letter 
Shin is written; then a little 
square of hard calf's skin is put 
at the top, out of which come two 
leathern strings. This square is 
put on the middle of the forehead, 
and the strings being girt about 
the head, are then brought before, 
and fall on the breast. It is 
called the Tephila of the head. 
The most devout Jews put it on 
both at morning and noon-day 
prayer; but the generality wear 



GAB 



[109] 



GAD 



*"t only at morning' prayer. See 
Phylacteries. 

FUNERAL, see Burial and 
Sepulchre. 

FURLONG is put in the N. T. 
for the Greek or rather Roman 
stadium, which consisted of one 
hundred and twenty-five geo- 
metrical paces. Eight furlongs 
make a mile. (See the Table of 
Measures at the end of the 
volume.) The Roman stadium 
was nearly equal to the English 
furlong, and contained 201.45 
yards. This is the stadium 
probably meant in the N. T. 
since the Jews were at that time 



subject to the Romans, and had 
constant intercourse with them. 

FURY is attributed to God 
metaphorically, or speaking after 
the manner of men 5 that is, 
God's providential actions are 
such as would be performed by 
a man in a state of anger ; so 
that, when he is said to pour out 
his fury on a person, or on a peo- 
ple, it is a figurative expression 
for dispensing afflictive provi- 
dences. But we must be very 
cautious not to attribute human 
infirmities, passions, or malevo- 
lence to the Deity. 



G. 



GABBATHA signifies an 
elevated place, and was the name 
of a place in Pilate's palace, 
whence he pronounced sentence 
against our Saviour. John 19 : 
13. In Greek it is called the 
pavement. It was properly a 
tribunal with a checkered marble 
pavement, or a pavement of mo- 
saic work. From the time of 
Sylla, ornamented pavements of 
this sort became common among 
the wealthy Romans ; and when 
they went abroad on military 
expeditions, or to administer the 
government of a province, they 
carried with them pieces of mar- 
ble ready fitted, which, as often 
as an encampment was formed, 
or a court of justice opened, 
were regularly spread around the 
elevated tribunal on which the 
commander or presiding officer 
was to sit. Julius Caesar follow- 
ed this custom in his expeditions. 

GABRIEL, a principal angel. 
He was sent to the propliet 
Daniel to explain his visions; 
aho to Zacharias, to announce 
to him the future birth of John 
10 



the Baptist. Dan. 8:16. 9:21. 
Luke 1 : 11,19. Six months after- 
wards, he was sent to Nazareth, 
to the Virgin Mary. Luke 1:26, 
«fec. See Archangel. 

I. GAD, (prosperity, fortune,) 
son of Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's 
servant. Gen. 30:11. Leah call- 
ed him Gad, saying, " Good for- 
tune cometh !" The Engl, trans- 
lation reads a troop. The tribe 
of Gad came out of Egypt in 
number 45,650. After the de 
feat of the kings Og and Sihon 
Gad and Reuben desired to have 
their allotment east of Jordan, 
alleging their great number of 
cattle. Moses granted their re- 
quest, on condition that they 
should accompany their breth 
ren, and assist in conquering the 
land west of Jordan. Gad had 
his inheritance between Reuben 
south, and Manasseh north, with 
the mountains of Gilead east 
and Jordan west. 

II. GAD, David's friend, who 
followed him when persecuted 
by Saul. Scripture styles him 
a prophet, and David's seer. 2 



GAL 



[110] 



GAL 



Sam. 24:11. He appears to 
have written a history of David's 
life ; which is cited in 1 Chr. 
29:29. 

GADARA, (surrounded, wall- 
ed,) a city east of the Jordan, in 
the Decapolis. Josephus calls it 
the capital of Peraea ; and Pliny 
places it on the river Hieromax, 
about five miles from its junction 
with the Jordan. It gave name 
to a district which extended, 
probably, from the region of 
Scythopolis to the borders of 
Tiberias. 

The evangelists Mark (5:1) 
and Luke (8:26) say that our 
Saviour, having passed the sea 
of Tiberias, came into the dis- 
trict of the Gadarenes. Matthew 
(8:28) calls it Gergesenes ; but 
as the lands belonging to one of 
these cities were included within 
the limits of the other, one evan- 
gelist might say, the country of 
the Gergasenes, another the 
country of the Gadarenes ; either 
being equally correct. Mr. 
Bankes thinks that the place 
called Oom-lcais, where are 
shown numerous caverns and 
extensive ruins, marks the site 
of Gadara. 

GAIUS, the Greek form of 
the Latin name Cuius. He was 
Paul's disciple, Acts 19:29, and 
was probably a Blacedonian, but 
settled at Corinth, where he enter- 
tained Paul during his abode 
there. Rom. 16:23. 

GALATIA, a province of 
Asia Minor, lying S. and S. E. 
of Bithynia and Paphlagonia; 
W. of Pontus 5 N. and N. W. 
of Cappadocia ; and N. and N. 
E. of Lycaonia and Phrygia. Its 
name was derived from the 
Gauls ; of whom two tribes, 
(Trocmi and Tolistoboii,) with 
a tribe of the Celts (Tectosa- 
ges,) migrated thither after the 
sackirg of Rome by JBrennus j 



and, mingling with the former in- 
habitants, the whole were called 
Gallogrceci. The Celtic lan- 
guage continued to be spoken by 
their descendants at least until 
the time of Jerome, 600 years 
after the migration. Under Au- 
gustus, about B. C. 26, this 
country was reduced to the form 
of a Roman province, and was 
governed by a propraetor. Gala- 
tia was distinguished for the fer- 
tility of its soil and the flourish- 
ing state of its trade. It was 
also the seat of colonies from 
various nations, among whom 
were many Jews 5 and from all 
of these Paul appears to have 
made many converts to Chris- 
tianity, to whom he afterwards 
addressed the Epistle to the 
Galatians. In this epistle, he 
censures them for declining from 
the simplicity of the gospel, 
and following Jewish teachers 5 
against whom he argues. Gal. 
1:2, &c. 1 Cor. 16:1. 

GALBANUM, a gum, or 
sweet spice, and an ingredient in 
the incense burned at the gold- 
en altar, in the holy place. Exod. 
30:34. It is the gum of a plant 
growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, 
and Syria, called by Pliny stago- 
nitis, but supposed to be the same 
as the bubon galbanum of Lin- 
naeus. The gum is unctuous and 
adhesive, of a strong and some- 
what astringent smell. 

GALILEE, the name of a re- 
gion of country, which in the 
time of Christ included all the 
northern part of Palestine lying 
between the Jordan and Mediter- 
ranean, and between Samaria 
and Phenicia. Before the exile 
the name seems to have been ap- 
plied only to a small tract bor- 
dering on the northern limits. 
Galilee, in the time of Christ, was 
divided into Upper and Lower ; 
the former lying north of the terrl- 



G A L 



[ in ] 



GAR 



tory of the tribe of Zebulon. and 
abounding' in mountains ; the lat- 
ter being more level and fertile, 
and very populous ; the whole 
comprehending the four tribes of 
Issaehar, Zebulun, Naphtali and 
Asher. Lower Galilee is said to 
have contained 404 towns and 
villages, of which Josephus men- 
tions Tiberias, Seppharis, and 
Gabara, as the principal ; though 
Capernaum and Nazareth are 
the most frequently mentioned 
in the N. T. Mark 1:9. Luke 
2:39. John 7 -.52, and elsewhere. 
In Matt. 4:15, some suppose 
Galilee of the Gentiles to be 
Upper Galilee 5 either because it 
bordered on Tyre and Sidon, 
or because Phenicians, Syrians, 
Arabs, &c. were 10 be found 
among its inhabitants. Others, 
with better reason, suppose that 
the whole of Galilee is intended, 
and is so called because it lay 
adjacent to idolatrous nations. 
The Galileans were accounted 
brave and industrious ; though 
the other Jews affected to con- 
sider them as not only stupid and 
unpolished, but also seditious, 
and, therefore, proper objects of 
contempt. John 1:47. 7:52. 
They appear to have used a pe- 
culiar dialect, by which they 
were easily distinguished from 
the Jews of Jerusalem. Mark 
14 : 70. For the Sea of Galilee, 
see Sea. 

GALL, a general name for 
any thing very biller. In Job 
16 : 13, it means the animal secre- 
tion, the bile. In Matt. 27 :34, it is 
said that they gave Jesus to drink, 
vinegar mixed with gall, which, 
in Mark 15:23, is called wine 
mingled with myrrh. It was 
probably the sour wine which 
the Roman soldiers used to drink, 
mingled with myrrh and other 
bitter substances ; very much 
like the bitters of modern times. 



The word gall is also often used 
figuratively, for great troubles, 
zvickedness, depravity, &c. Jer. 
8 : 14. Amos 6 :«12. Acts 8 : 23. 

GALLIO, a proconsul of 
Achaia, in the time of Paul. 
Acts 18:12,17. He was the 
elder brother of the philosopher 
Seneca, and was first called Mar- 
cus Annceus Novatus ; but took 
the name of Gallio, after being- 
adopted into the family of Lu- 
cius Junius Gallio. Like his 
brother Seneca, he suffered death 
by order of Nero. 

GAMALIEL, the name of a 
Pharisee, under whom Paul was 
educated. Acts 5:34. 22:3. 
He possessed great influence 
among the Jews, and is said by 
some to have presided over the 
Sanhedrim, during the reigns of 
Tiberius, Caius, and Claudius. 
The Talmudists say that he was 
the son of rabbi Simeon, and 
grandson of Hillel, the celebrated 
teacher of the law. 

GAMMADIMS is used in the 
English Bible, Ezek. 27:11, as 
the name of a people ; but it 
rather means simply the brave, 
the warlike. 

GARMENTS. The chief gar- 
ments of the Hebrews were the 
tunic, or inner garment, and the 
mantle, or outer garment. These 
seem to have constituted a 
" change of raiment." The tu- 
nic was of linen, and was worn 
next to the skin, fitting close to 
the body ; it had arm-holes, and 
sometimes sleeves, and reached 
below the knees ; that worn by 
females reached to the ankles. 
The tunic was sometimes woven 
without seam, like that of Jesus. 
John 19:23. The upper gar- 
ment, or mantle, was a piece of 
woollen cloth, nearly square, and 
several feet in length and breadth, 
which was wrapped round the 
body, or tied over the shoulders. 



GAR 



[112] 



GAT 



This could be so arranged as to 
form a large bosom for carrying 
things ; and the mantle also serv- 
ed the poor as a bed by night. 
See Bosom and Bed. 

Between these two garments, 
the Hebrews sometimes wore a 
third, called me-il, a long and 
wide robe or tunic of cotton or 
linen, without sleeves. 

As the Hebrews did not change 
the fashion of their clothes, as 
we do, it was common to lay up 
stores of raiment beforehand, 
and this was a mark of wealth. 
Isa. 3:6. To this Christ alludes, 
when he speaks of treasures 
which the moth devours. Matt. 
6:19. 

The great and wealthy de- 
lighted in white raiment ; and 
hence this is also a mark of opu- 
lence and prosperity. Ecc. 9:8. 
So, too, angels are described as 
clothed in white ; and such was 
also the appearance of our Sa- 
viour's raiment during his trans- 
figuration. Matt. 17:2. The 
saints in like manner are describ- 
ed as clothed in white robes. 
Rev. 7:9,13,14. 

The garments of mourning 
among the Hebrews were sack- 
cloth and hair-cloth; and their 
color dark brown, or black. As 
the prophets were penitents by 
profession, their common cloth- 
ing was mourning. Widows, 
also, dressed themselves much 
the same. 

Presents of dresses are allud- 
ed to very frequently in the his- 
torical books of Scripture, and 
in the earliest times. When Jo- 
seph gave to each of his breth- 
ren a change of raiment, and to 
Benjamin five changes, it is men- 
tioned without particular notice, 
and as a customary incident. 
Gen. 45:22. Naaman gave to 
Gehazi, from among the presents 
intended for Elisha, who declined 



accepting any, two changes of 
raiment ; and even Solomon re- 
ceived raiment as presents. 2 
Chr. 9:24. This custom is still 
maintained in the East, and is 
mentioned by most travellers. 
De la Motraye notices, as a pe- 
culiarity, that the grand seignior 
gives his garment of honor before 
the wearer is admitted to his 
presence ; while the vizier gives- 
his honorary dresses after the 
presentation. This will, perhaps, 
apply to the parable of the wed- 
ding garment, and to the beha- 
vior of the king, who expected 
to have found all his guests clad 
in robes of honor. Matt. 22:11, 

GATE. In oriental cities- 
there is always an open space or 
place adjacent to each gate ; and 
these are at the same time the 
market-places, and the place of 
justice. Prov. 22:22. Amos 5: 
10,12,15. There, too, people 
assemble to spend their leisure 
hours. Gen. 19:1. Hence '.' they 
that sit in the gate" is put for 
idlers, loungers, who are coupled 
with drunkards. Ps. 69:12. 

Hence, also, gate sometimes 
signifies power, dominion ; al- 
most in the same sense as the 
Turkish sultan's palace is called 
the Porte. God promises Abra- 
ham, that his posterity shall pos- 
sess the gates of their enemies — 
their towns, their fortresses. 
Gen. 22 : 17.— So, too, the gates 
of hell, i. e. the power of hell, or 
hell itself. 

GATH, (a wine-press,) a city 
of the Philistines, and one of 
their five principalities. 1 Sam. 
5:8. 6:17. It was eighteen 
miles south of Joppa, and thirty- 
two west of Jerusalem. David 
conquered Gath in the beginning 
of his reign over all Israel, I 
Chr. 18:1, and it continued sub 
ject to his successors till the de- 
clension of the kingdom of J u- 



GAZ 



L H3] 



GED 



dah. Rehoboam rebuilt or for- 
tified it. 2 Chr. 11:8. It was 
afterwards recovered by the Phi- 
listines, but Uzziah reconquered 
it. 2 Chr. 26:6. It is now deso- 
late. The inhabitants of Gath 
were called Gittites. 

GAZA, a city of the Philistines 
given by Joshua to Judah. Josh. 
15:47. 1 Sam. 6:17. It was 
one of the five principalities of 
the Philistines, towards the south- 
ern extremity of Canaan. It 
was situated between Raphia 
and Askelon, about sixty miles 
south-west of Jerusalem. Its 
advantageous situation exposed 
it to many revolutions. It be- 
longed to the Philistines ; then to 
the Hebrews ; recovered its lib- 
erty in the reigns of Jotham and 
Ahaz ; but was reconquered by 
Hezekiah. 2 K. 18:8. It was 
subject to the Chaldeans, with 
Syria and Phoenicia ; and after- 
wards to the Persians and the 
Egyptians, who held it when 
Alexander Jannaeus besieged, 
took and destroyed it, B. C. 98. 
See Zeph. 2:4. A new town 
was afterwards built, nearer to 
the sea, which is now existing. 
Luke speaks, Acts 8 : 26, of Gaza 
as a desert place ; meaning, most 
probably, the ancient Gaza. 

Dr. Wittman gives the follow- 
ing description of the modern 
town : " Gaza is situated on an 
eminence, and is rendered pic- 
turesque by the number of fine 
minarets which rise majestically 
above the buildings, and by the 
beautiful date-trees interspersed. 
A very fine plain commences 
about three miles from the town, 
on the other side, in which are 
several groves of olive-trees. 
Advancing toward Gaza, the 
view becomes still more interest- 
ing j the groves of olive-trees 
extending to the town, in front of 
which is a fine avenue of these 
10* 



trees. About a mile distant from 
the town is a commanding height. 
The soil in the neighborhood is 
of a superior quality. The sub- 
urbs of Gaza are composed of 
wretched mud huts ; but the inte- 
rior of the town contains buildings 
superior in appearance to those 
generally met with in Syria. 
The streets are of a moderate 
breadth ; man}' fragments of 
statues, columns, &c. of marble, 
are seen in the town walls and 
other buildings. Ophthalmia and 
blindness are very prevalent. 
The suburbs and environs of 
Gaza are rendered extremely 
agreeable by a number of large 
gardens, cultivated with great 
care, on the north, south and 
west of the town. Plantations ot 
date-trees, also, are numerous. 
The landing place of Gaza is an 
open beach, highly dangerous to 
boats, especially if laden, a heavy 
surf constantly beating on the 
shore." 

GAZELLE, see Roe. 

GEBAL, the Gebalene of the 
Romans, was a district of Idu- 
mea, called also at the present 
day Djebal, signifying mountains. 
It is the northern part of the 
range of mountains skirting the 
eastern side of the great valley 
El Ghor, which runs from the 
Dead sea to the Elanitic gulf of 
the Red sea. Ps. 83:7. The 
Gebal mentioned in Ezek. 27:9, 
was a city of Phoenicia, on the 
sea-shore, north of Beyroot. 

GEDER. This word signifies 
a wall, enclosure, fortified place ; 
as do also the names following, 
which are all derived from it. 
Geder itself, was an ancient Ca- 
naanitish place, in the plain of 
Judah, Josh. 12:13, and was 
probably the same with the fol- 
lowing Gederah. 

Geaerah, a city in the plain of 
Judah, Josh. 15:36, probably the 



GEN 



[114] 



GEN 



same with the preceding 1 Geder, 
and with Beth-Gader, 1 Chr. 
2:51. It would thence seem to 
have pertained to the family of 
Caleb. 

Gederoth, a place in the tribe 
ofJudah. Josh. 15:41. 2 Chr. 
28:18. 

Gederothaim, a place in the 
plain of Judah. Josh. 15:36. 

Gedor, a city apparently in 
the south of the mountains of 
Judah, surrounded by fat pas- 
tures, and formerly occupied by 
the Amalekites. 1 Chr. 4:39. 
12:7, Josh. 15:58. It is also 
the name of a man. 1 Chr. 8 : 31 . 
9 : 37. 

GENEALOGY, line of de- 
scent, and also a list of one's 
ancestors. Never was a nation 
more circumspect about their 
genealogies than the Hebrews. 
We find them in their sacred 
writings, carried on for upwards 
*>f 3500 years. In the evangelists 
we have the genealogy of Christ 
for 4000 years. The two ac- 
counts in Matthew, c.l, and Luke, 
c. 3, differ from each other ; one 
giving probably the genealogy of 
Christ's reputed father, Joseph, 
and the other that of his mother, 
Mary. 

It is observed in Ezra 2:62, 
that such priests as could not 
produce an exact genealogy of 
their families, were not permitted 
to exercise their sacred functions. 
Hence when in Heb. 7:3, it is 
said that Melchisedec was " with- 
out descent," i. e. without gene- 
alogy, the meaning is, that his 
name was not found in the public 
genealogical registers 5 his father, 
and mother, and ancestors were 
unknown, and hence his priest- 
hood was of a different kind, and 
to be regarded differently, from 
that of Aaron and his sons. 

GENERATION. Besides the 
common acceptation of this Word, 



as signifying race, descent, line' 
age, it is used for the history and 5 
genealogy of a person ; as Gen, 
5:1," The book of the genera- 
tions of Adam," i. e. the history 
of Adam's creation and of his 
posterity. So Gen. 2:4, " The 
generations of the heavens and 
of the earth," i. e. their genealogy, 
so to speak, the history of the 
creation of heaven and earth. 
Matt. 1:1," The book of the gen- 
eration of Jesus Christ," i. e. the 
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the 
history of his descent and life.—' 
" The present generation" com- 
prises all those who are now alive. 
Matt. 24:34, "This generation 
shall not pass till all be fulfilled ;" 
some now living shall witness the 
event foretold. Acts 2:40, 
" Save yourselves from this un- 
toward generation 5" from the 
punishment which awaits these 
perverse men. 

The Hebrews, like other an- 
cient nations, sometimes com- 
puted loosely by generations. 
Thus Gen. 15 : 16, " In the fourth 
generation thy descendants shall 
come hither again." The dura- 
tion of a generation is of course 
very uncertain ; indeed, it is im- 
possible to establish any precise 
limits. Hence it has been fixed 
by some at one hundred years 5 
by others, at a hundred and ten ; 
by others, at thirty-three, thirty, 
twenty-five, and even twenty 
years ; being neither uniform nor 
settled. It is, however, generally 
admitted, that a generation in the 
earliest periods is to be reckoned 
longer than one in later times. 

GENESIS, the first of the sa- 
cred books in the Old Testament, 
so called from the title given to 
it in the Septuagint, and which 
signifies " the book of the gen- 
eration, or production,'' of all 
things. Moses is generally ad- 
mitted to have been the writer of 



GEN 



[115] 



GER 






this book ; and it is supposed that 
he penned it after the promulga- 
tion of the law. Its authenticity 
is attested by the most indisputa- 
ble evidence, and it is cited as an 
inspired record thirty-three times 
in the course of the Scriptures. 
The history related in it com- 
prises a period of about 2369 
years, according to the lowest 
computation, but according to Dr. 
Hales, a much larger period. It 
contains an account of the crea- 
tion ; the primeval state and fall of 
man ; the history of Adam and his 
descendants, with the progress of 
religion and the origin of the arts 5 
the genealogies, age, and death 
of the patriarchs, until Noah 5 the 
general defection and corruption 
of mankind, the general deluge, 
and preservation of Noah and his 
family in the ark ; the history of 
Noah and his family subsequent 
to the time of the deluge $ the 
re-peopling and division of the 
earth among the sons of Noah ; 
the building of Babel, the confu- 
sion of tongues, and the disper- 
sion of mankind ; the lives of 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jo- 
seph. 

GENNESARETH, Lake of 
see Sea. 

GENTILES, a name given 
by the Hebrews to all those that 
had not received the law of Mo- 
ses. Those who were converted 
and embraced Judaism, they 
called proselytes. Since the 
promulgation of the gospel, the 
true religion has been extended 
to all nations ; God, who had 
promised by his prophets to call 
the Gentiles to the faith, with a 
superabundance of grace, having 
fulfilled his promise ; so that the 
Christian church is composed 
principally of Gentile converts 5 
the Jews being too proud of their 
privileges to acknowledge Jesus 
Christ as their Messiah and Re- 



deemer. In the writings of Paul, 
the Gentiles are generally called 
Greeks, Rom. 1:14,16. 1 Cor. 
1 : 22,24. Gal. 3 : 28. Luke, in the 
Acts, expresses himself in the 
same manner, c. 6:1. 11:20. 
18:4. Paul is commonly called 
the apostle of the Gentiles, Gab 
2:8.1 Tim. 2 : 7, because he, prin- 
cipally, preached Christ to them j 
whereas Peter, and the other 1 
apostles, preached generally to 
the Jews, and are called apostles 
of the circumcision. Gal. 2:8. 

Court of the Gentiles. Jose- 
phus says, that there was, in the 
court of the temple, a wall, or' 
balustrade, breast high, with pil- 
lars at certain distances, with 
inscriptions on them in Greek 
and Latin, importing that stran- 
gers were forbidden from ap- 
proaching nearer to the altar. 
See Temple. 

Isles of the Gentiles, Gen. 10 : 5, 
denote Asia Minor and the whole 
of Europe, which were peopled 
by the descendants of Japheth. 

GERAH, the smallest weight 
or coin among the Jews, the 
twentieth part of a shekel, and 
worth about % cents. Ex. 30 : 13. 

GERAR, an ancient town or 
place of the Philistines in the 
times of Abraham and Isaac. It 
lay not far from Gaza, in the south 
of Judah ; but is not mentioned 
in later history. Gen. 20:1. 
26:1,6,17. 

GERASA, or Gergesa, a 
city east of the Jordan, and in 
the Decapolis. Matt. 8:28. 
Burckhardt, Buckingham, and 
other writers consider the splen- 
did ruins of Djerash to be those of 
the ancient Gerasa. They are 
nearly fifty miles southeasterly 
from the sea of Tiberias, and 
nearly opposite to mount Ebal. 

GERGESENES, a people of 
the land of Canaan, who settled 
east of the sea of Tiberias, and 



GES 



[116] 



GIA 



gave name to a region and city. 
See Gadara, and Gerasa. 

GERIZIM, a mountain in 
Ephraim, between which and 
Ebal lay the city of Shechem. 
Judg. 9 : 7. Gerizim was fruitful, 
Ebal was barren. God com- 
manded that the Hebrews, after 
passing the Jordan, should be so 
divided that six tribes might be 
stationed on mount Gerizim, and 
six on mount Ebal. The former 
were to pronounce blessings on 
those who observed the law of 
the Lord} the others, curses 
against those who should violate 
it. Deut. 11:29. 27:12. 

After the captivity, Manasseh, 
a seceding priest, by permission 
of Alexander the Great, built 
a temple on Gerizim, and the 
Samaritans joined the wor- 
ship of the true God to that of 
their idols : " They feared the 
Lord, and served their own gods, 
after the manner of the nations 
whom they carried away from 
thence." 2 K. 17:33. See San- 
ballat, and Samaritans. 

This temple was destroyed by 
John Hircanus, and was not re- 
built till Gabinius was governor 
of Syria } who repaired Samaria 
and called it by his own name. 
In our Saviour's time, this tem- 
ple was in being, and the true 
God was worshipped there. John 
4:20. Herod the Great, having 
rebuilt Samaria, and called it 
Sebaste, in honor of Augustus, 
would have compelled the Sa- 
maritans to worship in the tem- 
ple which he had erected ; but 
they constantly refused, and have 
continued, to this day, to worship 
on Gerizim. 

I. GESHUR, Geshuri, Ge- 
shurites, the name of a district 
and people in Syria, of whose 
king, Talmai, David married the 
daughter, by whom he had Ab- 
salom. 2 Sam. 3: 3. 13:37. 15:8. 



It lay upon the eastern side of 
the Jordan, between Bashan, 
Maachah, and mount Hermon, 
and within the limits of the 
Hebrew territory) but the Is- 
raelites did not expel the in- 
habitants. Josh. 13:13. That 
they were not conquered at 
a later period, appears from the 
fact of their having a separate 
king. The word Geshur signi- 
fies bridge ; and in the same re- 
gion, where, according to the 
above data, we must place Ge- 
shur, between mount Hermon 
and the lake of Tiberias, there 
still exists an ancient stone bridge 
of four arches over the Jordan, 
called Djisr-Beni-Jakub, i.e. the 
bridge of the children of Jacob. 
There seems to have been here 
an important pass. See Jor- 
dan. 

II. GESHURI, Geshurites, 
a people in the south of Pales- 
tine, near the Philistines. Josh. 
13:2. 1 Sam. 27:8. 

GETHSExMANE, the oil- 
press, a place in the valley at the 
foot of the mount of Olives, over 
against Jerusalem, to which our 
Saviour sometimes retired; and 
in a garden belonging to which, 
he endured his agony, and was 
taken by Judas. Matt. 26:36, 
&c. It is an even plat of ground, 
according to Maundrell, about 
fifty-seven yards square. There 
are several ancient olive-trees 
standing in it. (See the Mission- 
ary Herald for 1824, p. 66.) See 
Jerusalem. 

GIANTS. It is probable that 
the first men were of a strength 
and stature superior to those of 
mankind at present, since they 
lived a much longer time ; long 
life being commonly the effect of 
a strong constitution. Giants, 
however, were not uncommon 
in the times of Joshua and Da- 
vid, notwithstanding that the life 



GIB 



[117] 



GIL 



of man was already shortened, 
and, as may be presumed, the 
size and strength of human 
bodies proportionably dimin- 
ished. Goliah was ten feet 
seven inches in height, 1 Sam. 
17:4, according to the usual es- 
timate of the cubit at twenty-one 
inches; but the length of the He- 
brew cubit is so uncertain, that we 
cannot depend on this measure- 
ment. The Anakims, or sons 
of .Anak, who dwelt at Hebron, 
were the most celebrated giants 
in Palestine. Num. 13:33. See 
also Rephaim. 

For the Valley of the Giants, 
see Rephaim. 

GIBEAH, {a hill,) a city of 
Benjamin, 1 Sam. 13:15, and 
the birth-place of Saul king of 
Israel ; whence it is frequently 
called " Gibeah of Saul." 1 Sam. 
11:4. Isa. 10:29. Gibeah was 
also famous for its sins ; partic- 
ularly for that committed by 
forcing the young Levite's wife, 
who went to lodge there ; and 
for the war which succeeded it, 
to the almost entire extermina- 
tion of the tribe of Benjamin. 
Judg. c. 19. Scripture remarks, 
that this happened at a time 
when there was no king in Israel, 
and when ever}' one did what 
was right in his own eyes. Gib- 
eah was about seven miles north 
from Jerusalem, not far from 
Gibeon and Kirjath-jearim. — 
There was another Gibeah in the 
tribe of Judah. Josh. 15:57. 

GIBEON, the capital of the 
GibeoniteS; who having taken 
advantage of the oaths of Josh- 
ua and the elders of Israel, 
which they procured by an artful 
representation of belonging to a 
very remote country, Josh. c. 9, 
were condemned to labor in 
carrying wood and water for 
the tabernacle, as a mark of 
their pusillanimity and duplicity. 



Three days after the Gibeomtes 
had thus surrendered to the He- 
brews, five of the kings of Ca- 
naan besieged the city of Gibeon ; 
but Joshua attacked and put 
them to flight, and pursued them 
to Bethoron. Josh. c. 10. 

Gibeon stood on an eminence, 
as its name imports, and was 
forty furlongs north from Jerusa- 
lem, according to Josephus. In 
2 Sam. 5:25, it would seem to 
be called Geba, as compared with 
1 Chr. 14 : 16 j but it is to be dis- 
tinguished from both Geba and 
Gibeah, and lay to the northward 
of them. 

GIDEON, a celebrated judge 
or leader of Israel, who obtained 
a miraculous victory over the 
Midianites, and freed the nation 
from their yoke. His history is 
contained in Judg. c. 6<— 8. 

GIHON, one of the four 
rivers of Paradise ; probably 
the Araxes. See Eden. 

GILBOA, a ridge of moun- 
tains, memorable for the defeat 
and death of Saul and Jona- 
than, 1 Sam. c. 31, running north 
of Bethshan or Scythopolis, and 
forming the western boundary of 
that part of the valley of the 
Jordan, lying between this valley 
and the great plain of Esdraelon. 
They are said to be extremely dry 
and barren, and are still called, 
by the Arabs, Djebel Gilbo. 

GILEAD, a mountainous dis- 
trict east of the Jordan, and 
which separated the lands of 
Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, 
from Arabia Deserta. The 
scenery of the mountains of Gil- 
ead is described by Mr. Buck- 
ingham as being extremely beau 
tiful. The plains are covered 
with a fertile soil, the hills are 
clothed with forests, and at every 
new turn the most beautiful land 
scapes that can be imagined are 
presented. The Scripture refer- 



GIL 



[118] 



GLE 



ences to the stately oaks and 
herds of cattle in this region are 
well known. 

The name Gilead is sometimes 
put for the whole country east of 
the Jordan. Thus in Deut. 34 : 1, 
God is said to have showed 
Moses from mount Nebo " all the 
land of Gilead unto Dan." The 
proper region of Gilead, howev- 
er, lay south of Bashan, but prob- 
ably without any very definite 
line of separation. Bashan and 
Gilead are often mentioned to- 
gether. Josh. 17:1,5. 2 Kings 
10:33, &c. A part of Gilead 
was the district now called Bel- 
ka, one of the most fertile in 
Palestine. See under the article 
Bashan. 

Mount Gilead, in the strictest 
sense, was doubtless the moun- 
tain now called Djebel Djelaad, 
or Djebel Djelaoud, mentioned 
by Burckhardt, the foot of which 
lies about two hours' distance, or 
six miles, south of the Wady 
Zerka, or Jabbok. The moun- 
tain itself runs from east to west, 
and is about two hours and a 
half (eight or ten miles) in length. 
Upon it are the ruined towns of 
Djelaad and Djelaoud ; probably 
trie site of the ancient city Gilead 
of Hos. 6:8; elsewhere called 
Ramoth Gilead. Southward of 
this mountain stands the modern 
city of Szalt. It was probably 
in this mountain, that Jacob and 
Laban set up their monument. 
Gen. 31:45, &c. 

GILGAL, a celebrated place 
between the Jordan and Jericho, 
where the Israelites first en- 
camped, after the passage of 
that river. Josh. 4:19. 5:9. It 
continued to be the head-quarters 
of the Israelites for several years, 
while Joshua was occupied in 
subduing the land. Josh. 9:6. 
10:6, &c. A considerable city 
was afterwards built there, 15 : 7, 



which became famous for many 
events. 1 Sam. 7:16. 11:14. 
15:33. Amos 5:5. 

GIRD, GIRDLE. The ori- 
entals commonly dress in loose 
robes, flowing down around the 
feet, so that when they wish to 
run, or fight, or apply themselves 
to any business, they are obliged 
to bind their garments close 
around them with a girdle. 
Hence " to have the loins girded" 
is to be prepared for action or 
service, to be waiting for the call 
or coming of one's master or 
Lord. Luke 12:35. Girdles of 
leather were worn by the com- 
mon people ; and also by proph- 
ets. 2 Kings 1:8. Matt. 3:4. 
They were likewise made of 
cotton or linen, Jer. 13:1; also 
of silk, and sometimes em- 
broidered. The girdle, moreover, 
answered the purpose of a purse 
or pouch, to carry money and 
other things, Matt. 10:9. Mark 
6:8; where the word purse in the 
English is put for girdle in the 
original Greek. The Arabs and 
other orientals wear girdles in 
the same manner at the present 
day ; they also carry a knife or 
dagger stuck in them ; as was 
also the custom of the Hebrews. 
1 Sam. 25:13. 2 Sam 20:8. 

GIRGASHITES, see Cana- 

ANITES. 

GITTITES, see under Gath. 

GITT1TH, a word which oc- 
curs frequently in the titles of the 
Psalms. The conjectures of in- 
terpreters as to its import are 
various. Some think it signifies 
a sort of musical instrument, in- 
vented at Gath ; others that the 
Psalms with this title were sung 
during the vintage. The word 
Gath, from which this is the fem- 
inine form, signifies wine-press. 

GLEDE, a kind of hawk. In 
Deut. 14: 13, this word is put by 
our translators for the same He- 



GO A 



[119] 



GOA 



orew word which, in Lev. 11 : 14, 
they have translated vulture. 

GNAT, a small winged sting- 
ing 1 insect, a mosquito. It is 
spoken of in the Bible only in 
the proverbial expression, Matt. 
23:24, " Ye strain at a gnat, and 
swallow a camel/' which should 
read, " ye strain out a gnat," &c. 
The expression alludes to the 
Jewish custom of filtering wine, 
for fear of swallowing any insect 
forbidden by the law as unclean 3 
and is applied to those who are 
superstitiously anxious in avoid- 
ing smaller faults, yet do not 
scruple to commit greater sins. 
To make the antithesis as strong 
as may be, two things are se- 
lected as opposite as possible 3 
the smallest insect, and the 
largest animal. 

GOAT, a well-known animal, 
which was used under the law 
both for food and for sacrifice. 
Dr. Russell observed two sorts of 

foats about Aleppo : one that 
iffered little from the common 
sort; the other remarkable for 
the length of its ears. " The 
size of the animals," he tells us, 
" is somewhat larger than ours 3 
but their ears are often a foot 
long, and broad in proportion. 
They were kept chiefly for their 
milk, of which they yielded no 
inconsiderable quantity." The 
present race of goats in the vi- 
cinity of Jerusalem are, it seems, 
of this bread-eared species. A 
gentleman that visited the Holy 
Land, in 1774, was struck with 
the difference between the goats 
there, and those that he saw in 
countries not far distant from 
Jerusalem. " They are," he 
says, " black, black and white, 
and some gray, with remarkably 
long ears, rather larger and 
longer than the Welsh goats." 
This kind of animal, he observed, 
in some neighboring places, dif- 



fered greatly from the above de- 
scription, those of Baalbec in 
particular, which were generally, 
if not always, of the other spe- 
cies. These last, probably, are 
of the sort common with us, as 
those about Jerusalem are mostly 
of the long-eared kind 3 and it 
should seem they were of the 
same long-eared kind that were 
kept anciently in Judea, from 
the words of the prophet, " As 
the shepherd taketh out of the 
mouth of the lion, two legs, or 
a piece of an ear ; so shall the 
children of Israel be taken out 
that dwell in Samaria and hi 
Damascus." Amos 3:12. 

Herodotus says, that at Men- 
des, in Lower "Egypt, both the 
male and female goat were wor- 
shipped. The heathen god Pan 
had the face and thighs of a goat 3 
not that they believed him to be 
of this figure, but because it had 
been customary to represent him 
thus. The heathen paid divine 
honors, also, to real goats, as 
appears in the table of Isis. 
The abominations committed 
during the feasts of these in- 
famous deities are well known. 

Wild Goats are mentioned 
1 Sam. 24:2. Job 39:1. Ps. 
104:18. This is doubtless the 
ibex, or mountain-goat, stein- 
bock, which are still found in the 
mountains in and adjacent to the 
peninsula of Sinai, as well as in 
the Alps. They exist also in 
great numbers in the mountains 
east and south of the Dead sea, 
the ancient mount Seir. The 
following account of them is 
from Burckhardt : " In all the 
wadys south of the Modjeb (Ar- 
non), and particularly in those of 
the Modjeb and El Ahsa, large 
herds of mountain-goats, called 
by the Arabs beden, are met 
with. This is the steinbock, or 
bouquelin, of the Swiss and Ty- 



GOA 



[ 120 ] 



GOD 



rol Alps 3 they pasture in flocks 
of forty or fifty together ; great 
numbers of them are killed by 
the people of Kerek and Tafyle, 
who hold their flesh in high esti- 
mation. They sell the large 
knotty horns to the Hebrew mer- 
chants, who carry them to Jeru- 
salem, where they are wrought 
into handles for knives and dag- 

fers. I saw a pair of these 
orns at Kerek three feet and a 
half in length. The Arabs told 
me that it is very difficult to get 
a shot at them, and that the 
hunters hide themselves among 
the reeds on the banks of streams, 
where the animals resort in the 
evening to drink. The}^ also 
asserted, that, when pursued, 
they will throw themselves from 
a height of fifty feet and more 
upon their heads without receiv- 



ing any injury. 



The same thii 



is asserted by the hunters in the 
Alps. The chase of the beden, 
as the wild goat is called, resem- 
bles that ot the chamois of the 
Alps, and requires as much en- 
terprise and patience. The 
Arabs make long circuits to sur- 
prise them, and endeavor to 
come upon them early in the 
morning, when they feed. The 
goats have a leader, who keeps 
watch, and on any suspicious 
smell, sound, or object, makes a 
noise, which is a signal to the 
flock to make their escape. 
They have much decreased of 
late, if we may believe the 
Arabs ; who say that fifty years 
ago, if a stranger came to a tent, 
and the owner of it had no sheep 
to kill, he took his gun and went 
in search of a beden. They 
are, however, even now more 
common here (in mount Sinai) 
than in the Alps, or in the moun- 
tains to the east of the Red sea." 
GOATS' HAIR was used by 
Moses in making the curtains of 



the tabernacle. Exod. 25:4, &c. 
The hair of the goats of Asia, 
Phrygia, and Cilicia, which is 
cut off', in order to manufacture 
stuffs, is very bright and fine, 
and hangs to the ground j in 
beauty it almost equals silk, and 
is never sheared, but combed off. 
The shepherds carefully and fre- 
quently wash these goats in 
rivers. The women of the 
country spin the hair, which is 
carried to Angora, where it is 
worked and dyed, and a consid- 
erable trade in the article carried 
on. The natives attribute the 
quality of the hair to the soil of 
the country. 

GOD. This name we give to 
that eternal, infinite, and incom- 
prehensible Being, the Creator 
of all things ; who preserves and 
governs all, by his almighty 
power and wisdom, and is the 
only proper object of worship. 
God, properly speaking, can 
have no name j for as he is one, 
and not subject to those individ- 
ual qualities which distinguish 
men, and on which the different 
denominations given to them are 
founded, he needs not any name 
to distinguish him from others, 
or to mark a difference between 
him and any, since there is none 
like him. The names, therefore,, 
which we ascribe to him, are de-^ 
scriptions or epithets, which ex- 
press our sense of his divine 
perfections, in terms necessarily 
ambiguous, because they are 
borrowed from human life or 
conceptions ; rather than true 
names which justly represent his 
nature. The Hebrews call God, 
Jehovah, which they never 
pronounce ; substituting for it, 
Lord, God, the Almighty, the 
Most High , &c . In Exod . 3 : 13, 
14, the angel who spoke in God's 
name, said to Moses, "Thus 
shali thou say, I AM hath sent 



GOL 



[ 121 ] 



GOS 



me unto you :" I am He who is ; 
or ; I shall ever be He who shall 
be. See Jehovah. 

GODLY, that which proceeds 
from God, and is pleasing' to him. 
It also signifies conformity to his 
will, and an assimilation to his 
character. Ps. 12:1. Mai. 2:15. 
2 Cor. 1:12. Tit. 2:12, &c. 

GOG and MAGOG are usu- 
ally spoken of tog-ether in Scrip- 
ture. Ezek. c. 38. c. 39. Rev. 
20 : 7 — 9. Magog apparently 
signifies a country, or people ; 
and Gog signifies the king of 
that people ; but critics are much 
divided as to the people and 
country intended under these 
names. The Scythians, the 
Goths, the Persians, and several 
other nations, have been speci- 
fied by interpreters as the Magog 
of the Scriptures ; but most 
probably it is a name given gen- 
erally to the northern nations of 
Europe and Asia 5 or the districts 
north of the Caucasus. 

GOLD, a well-known valuable 
metal, found in many parts of the 
world, but the greatest quantity 
of which has been obtained from 
the coast of Guinea. It is spoken 
of throughout Scripture ; and 
the use of it among the ancient 
Hebrews, in its. native and mixed 
state, and for the same purposes 
as at present, was very common. 
The ark of the covenant was 
overlaid with pure gold ; the 
mercy-seat, the vessels and uten- 
sils belonging to the tabernacle, 
and those also of the house of 
the Lord, as well as the drinking 
vessels of Solomon, were of gold. 

GOLGOTHA, the Hebrew 
name for Calvary, which see. 

GOLIATH, a celebrated giant 
of Gath, who challenged the 
armies of Israel, and was en- 
countered and slain by David. 
His historv is contained in 
1 Sam. c. 17. 

11 



GOPHER, the name of the 
wood of which the ark was built. 
Many suppose it to be the cy~ 
press ; others, the pine. After 
afl, gopher may probably be a 
general name for such trees as 
abound with resinous inflamma- 
ble juices 3 as the cedar, cypress, 
fir-tree, pine, &c. Gen. 6:14. 

GOSHEN, the name of that 
tract of country in Egypt, which 
was inhabited by the Israelites 
from the time of Jacob to that 
of Moses. It was most probably 
the tract lying eastward of the 
Pelusian arm of the Nile, to- 
wards Arabia, i. e. between that 
arm on the one side, and the Red 
sea and the borders of Palestine 
on the other. Commentators, 
however, have been greatly di- 
vided in respect to the situation 
of Goshen. (See under Egypt.) 
A city with the territorv around 
it in the mountains of Judah, is 
also called Goshen. Josh. 10:41. 
11:16. 15:51. 

GOSPEL signifies good news. 
and is that revelation and dis- 
pensation which God has made 
known to guilty man through 
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and 
Redeemer. The declaration of 
this gospel was made through 
the life and teaching, the death, 
resurrection, and ascension, of 
our Lord. 

The writings which contain 
the recital of our Saviour's life, 
miracles, death, resurrection, and 
doctrine, are called Gospels, be- 
cause they include the best news 
that could be published to man- 
kind. We have four canonical 
Gospels — those of Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, and John. These 
have not only been generally 
received, but they were received 
very early, as the standards of 
evangelical history; as the de- 
positories of the doctrines and 
actions of Jesus. They are ap- 



GOS 



[ 122 ] 



GOU 



pealed to under that character 
both by friends and enemies ; 
and no writer impugning' or de- 
fending Christianity, acknowl- 
edges any other gospel as of 
equal or concurrent authority, 
although there were many others 
which purported to be authentic 
memoirs of the life and actions 
of Christ. 

Gospel of Matthew. The 
time when this Gospel was writ- 
ten is very uncertain. All an- 
cient testimony, however, goes 
to show that it was published 
before the others. Hug draws 
from internal evidence the con- 
clusion, that it was written short- 
ly before the siege and capture 
of Jerusalem by the Romans, 
when they already had posses- 
sion of Galilee, about A. D. 65. 
It has been much disputed, 
whether this Gospel was origi- 
nally written in Hebrew or Greek. 
The unanimous testimony of an- 
cient writers is in favor of a He- 
brew original, i. e. that it was 
written in the language of Pales- 
tine and for the use of the He- 
brew Christians. But, on the 
other hand, the definiteness and 
accuracy of this testimony is 
drawn into question ; there is no 
historical notice of a translation 
into Greek ; and the present 
Gospel bears many marks of 
being an original ; the circum- 
stances of the age, too, and the 
prevalence of the Greek lan- 
guage in Palestine, seem to give 
weight to the opposite hypothe- 
sis. Critics of the greatest name 
are arranged on both sides of 
the question. 

Gospel of Mark. All the writ- 
ers of the church are unanimous 
iu the statement, that Mark wrote 
his Gospel under the influence 
and direction of the apostle Peter. 
The same traditionary authority 
makes it to have been written at 



Rome, and published after the 
death of Peter and Paul. 

Gospel of Luke. In like man- 
ner, Luke is said to have written 
his Gospel under the direction of 
Paul, whose companion he was 
on his journeys. Hug supposes 
this Gospel to have been written 
at a late period, after those of 
Matthew and Mark, and after the 
destruction of Jerusalem. 

Gospel of John The ancient 
writers all make this Gospel the 
latest. Hug places its publica- 
tion in the first year of the em- 
peror Nerva, A. D. 96, sixty-five 
years after our Saviour's death, 
and when John was now more 
than eighty years of age. This 
would be about thirty years later 
than the Gospel of Matthew. 

GOURD. Wild, a plant which 
produces vines and leaves simi- 
lar to garden-cucumbers, which 
creep on the earth, and are di- 
vided into several branches. Its 
fruit is of the size and figure of 
an orange, of a white, light sub- 
stance beneath the rind, and ex- 
tremely bitter. 2 K. 4:39. It 
furnished a model for some of 
the carved work of cedar in Solo- 
mon's temple. 1 K. 6 18. Eng- 
lish version, knops. 

Gourd of Jonah. There is 
some difficulty in ascertaining the 
plant intended by the Hebrew 
word kikayun, and interpreters 
are greatly at variance. Mod- 
ern writers, however, almost all 
agree, that it signifies the palma 
Christi, or ricinus ; in Eg}pt 
called kiki ; a plant like a lily, 
having smooth leaves scattered 
here and there, and spotted with 
black ; the stem round and glos- 
sy ; and producing flowers of va- 
rious colors. Dioscorides says, 
that one species of it grows like 
a large tree, and as high as the 
fig. Niebuhr has the following re- 
marks ; " I saw, for the first time, 



GR A 



[ 123] 



GRE 



at Basra (Bassora), the plant el- 
kheroa. It has the lorm of a tree ; 
the trunk appeared to me rather 
to resemble leaves than wood ; 
nevertheless, it is harder than 
that which bears the Adam's Jig. 
Each branch of the kheroa has 
but one large leaf, with six or 
seven corners. This plant was 
near to a rivulet, which watered 
it amply. At the end of Octo- 
ber, it had risen, in five months' 
time, above eight feet, and bore 
at once flowers and fruit, ripe and 
unripe. Another tree of this spe- 
cies, which had not had so much 
water, had not grown more in a 
■whole year. The flowers and 
leaves of it, which I gathered, 
withered in a few minutes ; as do 
all plants of a rapid growth. 
This tree is called at Aleppo, 
yalma Christi." 

GRACE is strictly favor, mer- 
cy. Divine grace is the free and 
undeserved love and favor of 
God towards man, exhibited 
most fully in the plan of redemp- 
tion through Jesus Christ. It is 
only by the free grace of God 
that we embrace the offers of 
mercy, and appropriate to our- 
selves the blessings purchased by 
redeeming blood. 

There is no subject on which 
theologians have written so large- 
ly, as on the grace of God. The 
difficulty consists in reconciling 
human liberty with the operation 
of divine grace 5 the concurrence 
of man with the influence and 
assistance of the Almighty. And 
who is able to set just bounds be- 
tween these two things? Who 
can pretend to know how far the 
privileges of grace extend over 
the heart of man, and what that 
man's liberty is, who is not en- 
lightened, moved } and attracted 
by grace ? Although the books 
of the O. T. express themselves 
very clearly with relation to the 



fall of man, his incapacity to 
good, his continual necessity of 
God's aid, the darkness of his 
understanding, and the evil pro« 
pensities of his heart 3 although 
all this is observable, not only in 
the historical parts of the Bible, 
but also in the prayers of the 
saints, and in the writings of the 
prophets ; yet these truths are 
far irom being so clearly revealed 
in the O. T. as in the New. 

GRAIN, see Corn. 

GRAPES, the fruit of the 
vine. The grapes of Palestine 
were very fine, of great size and 
high flavor. Num. 13:24. See 
Vine. 

Wild Grapes were the fruit of 
a wild vine, labrusca, which, 
according to Pliny, bore a red 
grape that never came to matur- 
ity . It is probably the vitis la- 
brusca of Linnaeus, the wild clar- 
et-grape. The fruit of the wild 
vine is called oznanthes, or the 
flower of wine. They never 
ripen, and are good only for ver- 
juice. In Isa. 5:2,4, God com- 
plains of his people whom he had 
planted as a choice vine, an ex- 
cellent plant, that he expected 
they would bear good fruit, but 
had brought forth only wild 
grapes 5 Heb. frvit of a bad 
smell, and a bad taste. 

GRASSHOPPER. It ap- 
pears from the testimony of De- 
11011, that there are grasshoppers 
in Egypt ; for so we understand 
his " locusts which do no dam- 
age ;" but the creature intended 
by our English version, under this 
name, is certainly a kind of lo- 
cust. See Locust. 

GREECE is called in Hebrew 
Javan, the same word at bottom 
as Ionia. In the N. T. the Greek 
name of Greece is Hellas. The 
name Hellas is supposed to have 
been originally applied to a sin- 
gle city in Thessaly, said to have 



GRE 



[124] 



GRE 



been built by Hellen, the son of 
Deucalion, and named from him- 
self. It was afterwards applied 
to the region of Thessaly, then 
to Greece exclusive of the Pelo- 
ponnesus, and at last to the whole 
of Greece including the Pelopon- 
nesus, and extending from Mace- 
donia to the Mediterranean sea. 
The name Greeks, by some, is 
supposed to be derived from a 
people of that name in the south- 
ern part of the country, a part of 
whom migrated to Italy, and 
founded the colonies of Magna 
Grcecia ; others suppose the 
name to have come from Grce- 
cus, an ancient king of the coun- 
try. About B. C. 146, the Ro- 
mans under Mummius conquered 
Greece, and afterwards divided 
it into two great provinces, viz. 
Macedonia, including Macedonia 
Proper, Thessaly, Epirus, and 
Illyricum ; and Achaia, including 
all the country which lies south 
of the former province. (See 
Achaia.) In Acts 20 : 2, Greece 
is probably to be taken in its 
widest acceptation, as including 
the whole of Greece Proper and 
the Peloponnesus. This country 
was bounded north by Macedo- 
nia and Illyricum, from which it 
was separated by the mountains 
Acroceraunii and Cambunii ; 
south by the Mediterranean sea 5 
east by the JEgean sea ; and 
west by the Ionian sea. It was 
generally known under the three 
great divisions of Peloponnesus, 
Hellas, and Northern Greece. 

The Peloponnesus, more an- 
ciently called Pelasgia, and Ar- 
gos, and now the Morea, includ- 
ed the following countries, viz. 
Arcadia, with the cities Megalo- 
polis, Tegaea, Mantinea ; Laco- 
nia or Laconica, with the cities 
Sparta, now Misitra, Epidaurus 
Limera; Messenia, with the cities 
Messene, Methone, now Modon 5 



Elis, with the village O^mpia 
and the city Elis ; Achaia. more 
anciently called iEgialea or 
Ionia, with its twelve cities, 
including the minor states of Si- 
cyon and Corinth j Argolis, with 
the cities Argos and Troezene. 

The division of Hellas, which 
now constitutes a great part of 
Livadia, included the following 
states and territories, viz. Attica, 
with the city Athens, now Atini, 
or Setines ; Megaris, with the 
city Megara 5 Boeotia, with the 
cities Thebes, Platsea, Leuctra, 
Coronea, Chaeronea, Orchome- 
nus 5 Phocis, with the cities Del- 
phos, Anticyra ; Doris; LocHs, 
with the towns Thermopylae, 
Naupactus, now Lepanto 3 JEto- 
lia, with the cities Calydon, Chal- 
cis, Thermis ', Acarnania, with 
the city Actium, now Azio. 

The remaining division of 
Northern Greece included the 
following territories, viz. Thessa- 
ly, more anciently called Pelas- 
gia, iEmonia, or Hellas, with 
the cities Larissa, Larissa Cre- 
maste, Phthia, Magnesia, Me- 
thone, Pharsalus ; Epirus, more 
anciently Dodonea, now Albania, 
with the cities Ambracia, Nicop- 
olis, Apollonia, Dyrrhachium, or 
Epidamnum. 

The most important islands 
which belonged to Greece were 
the following, viz. Eubcea, now 
Negropont, with the cities Chal- 
cis, Eretria, Carystus ; Crete, 
now Candia, with the cities Gnos- 
sus, Gortyna, Minoa, Cydonia ; 
the islands of the Archipelago, 
i.e. the Cyclades, including Nax- 
os, Paros, Delos, and about fifty 
others ; the Sporades, including 
Samos, Patmos, Rhodes, etc. 
the islands higher up the iEgean 
sea, as Samothrace, Lemnos, 
Lesbos, with the city Mitylene 3 
and the Ionian islands, including 
Cytherea, now Cerigo, Zacyn- 



HAB 



[125] 



HAG 



thus, Cepbalonia, Ithaca, now 
Teaki, Leucadia, now Santa 
Maura, Paxos, Corcyra, now 
Corfu. 

Many flourishing churches 
were, in early times, established 
among the Greeks : and there 
can be no doubt but that they, for 
a long time, preserved the apos- 
tolic customs with much care. 
At length, however, opinions 
fluctuated considerably on points 
of doctrine ; schisms and here- 
sies divided the church ; and ran- 
cor, violence, and even persecu- 
tion, followed in their train. To 
check these evils, councils were 
called and various creeds com- 
posed. The removal of the seat 
of government from Rome to 
Constantinople, gave a prepon- 
derance to the Grecian districts 
of the empire, and the ecclesias- 
tical determinations of the Greek 
church were extensively received. 



The Greek is the original lan- 
guage of all the books in the N. 
T. but the sacred authors have 
followed that style of writing 
which was used by the Hellen- 
ists, or Grecizing Hebrews, 
blending idioms and turns of 
speech peculiar to the Syriac 
and Hebrew languages, very 
different from the classical spirit 
of the Greek writers. After 
Alexander the Great, Greek 
became the common language 
of almost all the East, and was 
generally used in commerce. 
As the sacred authors had prin- 
cipally in view the conversion of 
the Jews, then scattered through- 
out the East, it was natural for 
them to write to them in Greek, 
that being a language to which 
they were of necessity accus- 
tomed. 

GRIND, see under Corn. 



H. 



HABAKKUK, one of the 

minor prophets. Of his life we 
know nothing, except that he ap- 
pears to have been contemporary 
with Jeremiah, in the early part 
of the latter prophet's course. 

The book of Habakkuk con- 
sists of three chapters, which all 
constitute one oracle ; or at least 
may properly be regarded as 
one. They contain complaints 
over the calamities brought upon 
the Jews by the Chaldeans ; to- 
gether with the expression of 
strong desires and hopes that 
these savage enemies will be re- 
quited. The costume is highly 
poetical. The third chapter is 
one of the most splendid portions 
of the prophetical writings ; the 
language of it rises to theloftiest 
flight of lyric poetry. On the 



ground of this portion of his pro- 
phecy, Habakkuk may be placed 
in the first rank of the Hebrew 
poets. He is not entirely origi- 
nal j for this chapter contains an 
imitation of earlier writings, Judg. 
5:4. Ps. 68:7,83 but he is dis- 
tinguished for the purity and ele- 
gance of his diction, and the fire 
and vivacity of his imagery. 

HABERGEON, a coat of 
mail ; an ancient piece of defen- 
sive armor, in the form of a coat 
or tunic, descending from the 
neck to the middle of the body, 
and formed of small iron rings or 
meshes, linked into each other. 
It is also sometimes written hau- 
bert and hauberk. Ex. 28:32. 
39:23. 

HADORAM, see Adoniram. 

HAGAR, an Egyptian ser- 



HAI 



[ 126 ] 



HAM 



vant belonging- to Sarah, who ; 
being barren, gave her to Abra- 
ham for a wife, that by her, as a 
substitute, she might have chil- 
dren, in accordance with the cus- 
toms of the East, in that age. 
The history of Hagar is given in 
Gen. c. 16. c. 21. — In an allego- 
ry, Paul makes Hagar represent 
the Jewish church, which was in 
bondage to the ceremonial law 5 
as Sarah represents the true 
church of Christ, which is free 
from this bondage. Gal. 4:24. 

HAGGAI, one of the minor 
prophets, probably accompanied 
Zerubbabel in the first return of 
the Jews from Babylon. He be- 
gan to prophesy in the second 
year of Darius Hystaspes 5 and 
the object of his prophesying was 
to excite his countrymen to be- 
gin again the building of the tem- 
ple, which had been so long in- 
terrupted. In this he was suc- 
cessful 3 Darius having granted 
a decree for this purpose. Ezra 
c. 6. 

HAIL ! a salutation, importing 
a wish for the welfare of the per- 
son addressed. It is now seldom 
used among us 5 but was custom- 
ary among our Saxon ancestors, 
and imported as much as "joy 
to you ;" or " health to 3'ou ;" 
including in the term health all 
kinds of prosperity. 

HAIL-STONES are congeal- 
ed drops of rain, formed into ice 
by the power of cold in the up- 
per regions of the atmosphere. 
Hail was among the plagues of 
Egypt, Exod. 9 : 24 ; and that hail, 
though uncommon, is not abso- 
lutely unknown in Egypt, we 
have the testimony of Volne} r , 
who mentions a hail-storm, which 
he saw crossing over mount Sinai 
into that country, some of whose 
frozen stones he gathered ; " and 
so," he says, " I drank iced 
water n Egypt." Hail was also 



the means made use of by God, 
for defeating an army of the 
kings of Canaan. Josh. 10:11. 

HALLELUJAH, and in the 
N. T. Alleluia, from a He- 
brew word signifying Praise ye 
Jehovah. This word occurs at 
the beginning and at the end of 
many psalms. It was also sung- 
on solemn days of rejoicing, as 
an expression of joy and praise j 
and as such it has been adopted 
in the Christian church, and is 
still used in devotional psalmod}'. 
Rev. 19:1,3,4,6. 

HALLOW. To hallow, is to 
render sacred, set apart, conse- 
crate. The English word is 
from the Saxon, and is properly 
to make holy ; hence hallowed 
persons, things, places, rites, 
&c. hence, also, the name, power, 
dignity of God, is hallowed ; that 
is, reverenced as holy. 

HAM, (burnt, swarthy, black,) 
the youngest son of Noah, and 
cursed by his father for his 
wicked conduct in not reverenc- 
ing his father as he ought. Gen. 
9:22, &c. Ham was the father 
of Cush, Misraim, Phut, and 
Canaan, i. e. the ancestor of the 
Canaanites, Ethiopians, Egyp- 
tians, and the Africans in general. 

HAMATH, a celebrated city 
of Syria. Hamath, together 
with Jerusalem and Damascus, 
belongs to the few places in 
Syria and Palestine, which have 
retained a certain degree of im- 
portance from the very earliest 
ages to the present time. The 
name occurs in Gen. 10:18, as 
the seat of a Canaanitish tribe ; 
and it is often mentioned as the 
northern limit of Canaan in its 
widest extent. Num. 13:21. 
Josh. 13:5. Judg.3.3. In Da- 
vid's time, Toi, king of Hamath, 
was his ally. 2 Sam. 8:9,10. 

Burckhardt describes Hamath 
as " situated on both sides of the 



HAR 



[127] 



HAZ 



Orontes ; a part of it is built on 
the declivity of a hill, and a part 
in the plain. The town is of 
considerable extent, and must 
contain at least 30,000 inhab- 
itants. There are four bridges 
over the Orontes in the town. 
The river supplies the upper 
town with water, by means of 
buckets fixed to high wheels, 
which empty themselves into 
stone canals, supported by lofty 
arches on a level with the upper 
part of the town. There are 
about a dozen of the wheels ; 
the largest of them is at least 
seventy feet in diameter. The 
town, for the most part, is well 
built, although the walls of the 



pah 
id: I 



cepted, are of mud 3 but their 
interior makes amends for the 
roughness of their external ap- 
pearance. The principal trade 
of Hamath is with the Arabs, 
who buy here their tent furniture 
and clothes. The government 
of Hamath comprises about 120 
inhabited villages, and seventy 
or eighty which have been aban- 
doned. The western part of its 
territory is the granary of north- 
ern Syria; though the harvest 
never yields more than ten for 
one, chiefly in consequence of the 
immense numbers of mice, which 
sometimes wholly destroy the 
crops.' 7 See Mouse. 

HAND is often put {or strength, 
power ; so " to be in the hand" 
of any one, is to be in his power. 
The joining of hands, or striking 
of hands, is a very common 
method of pledging one's self to 
a contract, bargain, &c. just as 

Eersons among us often shake 
ands in token of an agreement. 

I. HARAN, eldest son of Te- 
rah, and father to Lot, Milcah, 
and Iscah. He died before his 
father Terah. Gen. 11:27, &c. 

II. HARAN, or Char ran, 



a city in Mesopotamia, in which 
Abraham dwelt after he had 
left Ur; and where Terah his 
father died. Gen. 11:31,32. 
Hither, likewise, Jacob retired to 
Lab an, when he fled from his 
brother Esau. Gen. 27:43. At 
Haran, Crassus the Roman gen- 
eral was defeated and killed by 
the Parthians. Harran, as it is 
now called, is situated in 36° 
52' N. lat. and 39° 5' E. long, in 
aflat and sandy plain, and is 
only peopled by a few wander- 1 
ing Arabs, who select it for the 
delicious water which it contains. 

HARP. The harp played 
upon by David was the Hebrew 
kinnor, the Greek kirmra, and 
more properly called a lyre. 
Josephus describes it as having 
ten strings, and says it was 
struck with a plectrum or key 5 
but this seems contrary to 1 Sam. 
16:23. 18:10. 19:9, where Da- 
vid is said to have played with 
the hand. Another kind of harp 
mentioned in Scripture is the 
nebel, Greek and Latin nablia, 
which Josephus describes as hav- 
ing twelve strings, and as played 
upon with the hand. Jerome 
says it had the form of a triangle, 
or inverted Delta, v. This is the 
instrument commonly translated 
psalteri/ in our version. Psalm 
57:8. 81:2. 92:3. 108:2, &c. 
It is also mentioned as having 
sometimes ten strings. Psalm 
33:2. 144:9. See Psaltery. 

HAURAN, Ezek. 47:16, was 
originally a small district be- 
tween Damascus and the sea of 
Tiberias ; but was afterwards 
extended, and under the Romans 
was called Auranitis. It now 
includes the ancient Trachonitis, 
the Haouran, Itureea, and part 
of Batanaea, and is very minute- 
ly described by Burckhardt. 

HAZERIM, Hazeroth, Ha- 
zor, Hazerothaim, are all names 



HEB 



[ 128 ] 



HEB 



which signify villages or hamlets ; 
and are often put before the 
names of places. There is a 
town called Hazor in Arabia 
Petraea, in all probability the 
same as Hazerim, the ancient 
habitation of the Hivites, before 
they were driven away by the 
Caphtorim, who settled in Pales- 
tine. Deut. 2:23. It might, per- 
haps, be the Hazeroth, where 
the Hebrews encamped, Num. 
11:35. 12:16. 33:18. 

HAZEZON-TAMAR, see 
En-gkdi. " 

HEAVEN often denotes the 
air, and the firmament, or ex- 
panse. See Gen. 19 : 24. 1 : 14—17. 

The Heaven of Heavens is 
the highest heaven ; as the song 
of songs is the most excellent 
song ; the God of gods, or the 
Lord of lords, the greatest of 
gods, or the supreme of lords. 
Paul mentions the third heaven, 
2 Cor. 12:2, which is regarded 
as the place of God's resi- 
dence, the dwelling of angels 
and blessed spirits. The third 
heaven is the same as the high- 
est heaven; and both are used 
to express the idea of the highest 
exaltation and glory ; q. d. God 
dwells not only in heaven, but 
above the heavens, in the third, 
or very highest, heaven. So the 
rabbyis and the Mohammedans 
make, in the same way, seven 
heavens. Compare 2 Cor. 12:2. 
Eph. 4:10. Heb. 7:26. 

For the Kingdom of Heaven, 
see Kingdom. 

HEBREWS. The name He- 
brew is first applied to Abraham, 
Gen. 14:13. It comes from a 
Hebrew word signifying over, 
beyond ; and seems to have been 
given to Abraham, because he 
came from over, from beyond, 
the Euphrates. The name He- 
brews is chiefly used in the Bible 
by way of distinction from other 



nations ; as the name by which 
the Jewish people were known to 
foreigners ; in opposition to their 
common domestic name, " the 
children of Israel." The name 
of Jeics was afterwards applied 
to them, as inhabitants of Jude.a. 
Abraham, the founder of the 
Jewish nation, was essentially a 
nomad, i. e. a wandering shep- 
herd ; whose property consisted 
in. flocks and herds, but who had 
no fixed residence, and removed 
from place to place as the con- 
venience of water and pasturage 
dictated. As such a nomad, 
he had lived in the East, and 
then in Haran, whence he re- 
moved and dwelt in the same 
manner among the Canaanites 
in Palestine, a country which 
God promised him to give to his 
posterity. His son and grand- 
son, Isaac and Jacob, followed 
in his steps. By a miraculous 
arrangement of Providence, Jo- 
seph, one of the sons of Jacob, 
became grand vizier of Egypt ; 
and in a lime of famine invited 
his family to settle in Egypt. 
Here they dwelt 430 years ; 
during which time the Egyptians 
had reduced them to a state of 
bondage. From this they were 
delivered by Jehovah through 
Moses, who led them out with 
great signs and wonders to Sinai, 
where God gave them his law; 
and then, after wandering forty 
years, he brought them to the 
borders of the promised land. 
Here Moses died, and was suc- 
ceeded by Joshua, who con- 
quered the desired country, and 
allotted it to the several tribes. 
From this time they were gov- 
erned in the name of Jehovah, 
by chiefs, judges, or patriarchal 
rulers, until the time of Samuel ; 
when the government was 
changed to a monarchy, and 
Saul anointed king. David, a 



HEB 



[ 129 ] 



HEB 



shepherd youth , but the man 
after God's own heart, was af- 
terwards king, and founded a 
family which continued to reign 
in Jerusalem until the entire sub- 
jugation of the country by the 
Chaldeans. Under his grandson 
Rehoboam, however, ten tribes 
had already revolted and formed 
a separate kingdom ; and thus 
the kingdoms of Judah and Isra- 
el came to be often at enmity and 
war with each other. The termi- 
nation of the whole Was an entire 
subjugation of the land, and a 
carrying away of the inhabitants 
to Babylon and other oriental 
countries. After seventy years 
of exile, a few small colonies of 
Hebrews returned, and built 
another temple at Jerusalem, 
and attempted to reestablish 
their nation ; but they had to 
struggle, first under the Macca- 
bees against the kings of the Se- 
leucian race, (see Kings,) and 
then against the Romans ; until 
at length, under Titus, Jerusalem 
was taken and utterly destroyed ; 
A. D. 72. Since that time, the 
Hebrews have ceased to exist as 
an independent people ; but they 
are scattered among all the na- 
tions of the earth, where they 
retain all their characteristic- 
traits, and live as strangers, and, 
in a great measure, as outcasts. 

The early government of the 
Hebrews is, by Josephus, called 
a theocracy ; by which he means 
a form of government which as- 
signs the whole power to God, 
with the management of all the 
national affairs — God, in fact, 
being the proper king of the 
state. This government, how- 
ever, underwent several changes. 
There was the legislator Moses ; 
his successor Joshua; the judges ; 
the kings, and the high-priests. 
Under all these revolutions, God 
was considered as the monarch 



of Israel ; but he did not exer- 
cise his authority and jurisdiction 
always in the same manner. In 
the time of Moses, he governed 
immediately; for, on all emer- 
gencies, he revealed his will, 
which was put in execution. He 
dwelt among his people as a 
king in his palace, or in the midst 
of his camp; always read)' to 
give an answer when consulted. 
This was, properly, the time of 
the theocracy, in the strictest 
sense of the term. Under Josh- 
ua and the judges, it continued 
the same ; the former, being 
filled by the spirit which animated 
Moses, would undertake nothing 
without consulting Jehovah ; and 
the latter were leaders, raised up 
by God himself, to deliver the 
Hebrews and govern in his name. 
The demand of the people for a 
king, occasioned to Samuel, the 
prophet-judge, great disquietude, 
for he regarded it as a rejection 
of the theocratic government. 
1 Sam. 8:6,7. God complied 
with the wishes of the people ; 
but he still retained his own 
sovereign authority. 

The religion of the Jews may 
be considered in different points 
of view, with respect to the dif- 
ferent conditions of their nation. 
Under the patriarchs, they were 
occasionally instructed in the 
will of God, opposed idolatry 
and atheism, used circumcision 
as the appointed seal of the 
covenant made by God with 
Abraham, and followed the laws 
which reason, assisted by the 
light of grace and faith, discov- 
ers to honest hearts, who serious- 
ly seek God, his righteousness, 
and truth. They lived in expec- 
tation of the Messiah, the desire 
of all nations, to complete their 
hopes and wishes, and fully to 
instruct and bless them. Such 
was the religion of Abraham, 



HEB 



[130] 



HEB 



Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, &c. 
who maintained the worship of 
God and the tradition of the true 
religion. After the time of Moses, 
the religion of the Hebrews be- 
came more fixed Previously, 
every one honored God accord- 
ing to his heart and judgment ; 
but now, ceremonies, days, feasts, 
priests and sacrifices were de- 
termined with great exactness. 
This whole dispensation only 
prefigured that more perfect one 
which should in after times arise, 
when the Messiah should come, 
and bring life and immortality to 
light in his gospel, and make a 
full atonement for the sins of the 
world. See Type. 

The long abode of the Hebrews 
in Egypt nad cherished in them 
a strong propensity to idolatnj ; 
and neither the miracles of 
Moses, nor his precautions to 
withdraw them from the worship 
of idols, nor the rigor of his laws, 
nor the splendid marks of God's 
presence in the Israelitish camp, 
were able to conquer this un- 
happy perversity. We know 
with what facility they adopted 
the adoration of the golden calf, 
when they had scarcely passed 
the channel of the Red sea, 
where they had been eye- 
witnesses of such divine won- 
ders ! Saul and David, with all 
their authority, were not able en- 
tirely to suppress such inveterate 
disorders. Superstitions, which 
the Israelites did not dare to ex- 
ercise in public, were practised 
in private. They sacrificed on 
the high places, and consulted 
diviners and magicians. Solo- 
mon, whom God had chosen to 
build his temple, was himself a 
stone of stumbling to Israel. He 
erected altars to the false gods 
of the Phoenicians, Moabites and 
Ammonites, and not only per- 
mitted his wives to worship the 



gods of their own country, but 
himself adored them. IK. 11:5 
— 7. Most of his successors 
showed a similar weakness. Jer- 
oboam introduced the worship 
of the golden calves into Israel, 
which took such deep root that it 
was never entirely extirpated. 
It was for this cause that God 
gave the Hebrews over into the 
hands of their enemies, to cap- 
tivity and dispersion ; aud at 
length permitted them to be extir- 
pated as a nation, and made stran- 
gers and sojourners over all the 
face of the earth. See Idolatry. 

For the Language of the He- 
brews, see Language. 

The existence of the Hebrews 
as a people distinct from all 
others, to this day, is a miracle 
of that indisputable kind which 
may well justify a few remarks. 

1. They are spread into all 
parts of the earth; being found 
not only in Europe, but to the 
utmost extremity of Asia, even 
in Thibet and China. They 
abound in Persia, Northern In- 
dia and Tartary, wherever trav- 
ellers have penetrated. These 
are, as they assert, probably, 
descendants of the tribes carried 
away captive by the Assyrian 
monarchs. They are also nu- 
merous in Arabia, in Egypt, and 
throughout Africa. 

2. In most parts of the world 
their state is much the same, — one 
of dislike, contempt and oppres- 
sion. Within the last few years 
they have received more justice 
at the hands of some of the Eu- 
ropean states ; but it is evident 
that they hold their possessions 
by a very precarious tenure. 

3. They every where maintain 
observances peculiar to them- 
selves ; such as circumcision, 
performed after their own man- 
ner, and at their own time of life, 
that is, during infancy ; also the 



11EB 



L isi J 



HEB 



observance of a sabbath or day 
of rest, not the same day of the 
week as that of nations which 
also observe a sabbath. They 
have generally retained some 
remembrance of the passover. 

4. They are divided into vari- 
ous sects. Some of them are 
extremely attached to the tradi- 
tions of the rabbins, and to the 
multiplied observances enjoined 
in the Talmud. Others, as the 
CaraYtes, reject these with scorn, 
and adhere solely to Scripture. 
The majority of the Jews in Eu- 
rope, and those with whose works 
we are mostly conversant, are 
rabbinists, and may be taken as 
representatives of the ancient 
Pharisees. 

5. They every where consider 
Judea as their proper country, 
and Jerusalem as their metro- 
politan city. Wherever settled, 
and for however long, they still 
cherish a recollection of country, 
unparalleled among other nations. 
They have not lost it ; they will 
not lose it ; and they transmit it 
to their posterity, however com- 
fortably they may be settled in 
any residence or in any country. 
They hope against hope, to see 
Zion and Jerusalem revive from 
their ashes. 

6. The number of the Jewish 
nation was estimated a few years 
ago, for the information of Bona- 
parte, at the following amount ; 
but from what documents we 
know not : — 

In the Turkish empire, 1,000,000 
In Persia, China, India, 

on the east and west of 

the Ganges, 300.000 

In the west of Europe, 

Africa, America, 1,700,000 



Total, 3,000,000 

This number is probabty very 
far short of the truth. Maltebrun 



estimates them at from 4,000,000 
to 5,000,000. 

Epistle to the Hebrews. The 
object of this epistle, which ranks 
amongst the most important of 
the New Testament Scriptures, 
was to prove to the Jews, from 
their own Scriptures, the divinity, 
humanity, atonement and inter- 
cession of Christ, particularly 
his preeminence over Moses and 
the angels of God, — to demon- 
strate the superiority of the gospel 
to the law 3 and the real object 
and design of the Mosaic institu- 
tions,— to fortify the minds of the 
Hebrew converts against apos- 
tasy under persecution, and to 
engage them to a deportment 
becoming their Christian profes- 
sion. In this view, the epistle 
furnishes a key to the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures. The name 
of the writer of this epistle is no 
where mentioned. The majority 
of critics, however, refer it to the 
apostle Paul 5 though several 
writers of sound judgment, learn- 
ing and piety, (among whom is 
Calvin,) are not satisfied with the 
evidence on which this opinion 
rests. 

HEBRON, one of the most 
ancient cities of Canaan, being 
built seven years before Tanis, 
the capital of Lower Egypt. 
Num. 13:22. It was first called 
Kirjath Arba, i. e. the city of 
Arba. Hebron was given to Ju- 
dah, and became a city of refuge. 
It was situated on an eminence, 
about twenty-seven miles south of 
Jerusalem, and about the same 
distance north of Beersheba. 
Abraham, Sarah and Isaac were 
buried near the city, in the cave 
of Machpelah. Gen. 23:2,9. 
After the death of Saul, David 
fixed his residence at Hebron, 
and it was for some time the 
metropolis of his kingdom. 2 
Sam. 2:1— 4. It is now called .£2 



HEL 



[ 132 ] 



HEL 



Hhalil, and contains a population 
of about 400 families of Arabs, 
besides a hundred Jewish houses. 
" They are so mutinous/' says 
D'Arvieux, " that they rarely pay 
the duties without force, and 
commonly a reinforcement from 
Jerusalem is necessary. The 
people are brave, and, when in 
revolt, extend their incursions as 
far as Bethlehem, and make 
amends by their pillage for what 
is exacted from them. They are 
so well acquainted with the wind- 
ings of the mountains, and know 
so well how to post themselves 
to advantage, that they close all 
the passages, and exclude every 
assistance from reaching the Sou- 
bachi. The Turks dare not dwell 
here, believing that they could 
not live a week if they attempted 
it. The Greeks have a church 
in the village." At present, 
however, the Turks dwell there, 
and there is a Mohammedan 
governor. 

HELBON, a city of Syria, 
famous for its wines, Ezek. 27 : 18, 
and probably the present Haleb, 
or, as called in Europe, Aleppo. 
It is situated, according to Rus- 
sell, who has given a very full 
description of it, in lat. 36° 11' 
25" N. long. 37° 9' E. ; about 180 
miles north of Damascus, and 
about 80 inland from the coast of 
the Mediterranean sea. In 1822, 
Aleppo was visited by a dread- 
ful earthquake, by which it was 
almost entirely destroyed. 

HELIOPOLIS, a celebrated 
city of Egypt, called in Coptic, 
Hebrew, and in the English 
version, On, Gen. 41:45. The 
Egyptian name signifies light, 
sun; and hence the Greek name 
Heliopolis, which signifies city 
of the sun. The Seventy men- 
tion expressly that On is Heli- 
opolis. Sept. Ex. 1:11. Jere- 
miah, 43:13, calls this city in 



Hebrew Beth-Shemesh, i. e 
house or temple of the sun. In 
Ezekiel 30:17, the name is 
pronounced Aven, which is the 
same as On. The Arabs call it 
Ain-Shems, fountain of the sun. 
All these names come from the 
circumstance that the city was 
the ancient seat of the Egyptian 
worship of the sun. It was in 
ruins in the time of Slrabo, who 
mentions that two obelisks had 
already been carried away to 
Rome. 

The present state of these ruins 
is described by Niebuhr : " The 
ruins of this ancient city lie near 
the village Matarea, about two 
hours [six miles] from Cairo, 
towards the north-east. But 
nothing now remains except im- 
mense dikes and mounds full of 
small pieces of marble, granite 
and potter}^ some remnants of a 
sphinx, and an obelisk still stand- 
ing erect. This last is one single 
block of granite, covered on its 
four sides with hieroglyphics. 
Its height above ground is 
fifty-eight feet. It belonged 
to the ancient temple of the 
sun." 

Another Heliopolis is alluded 
to in Scripture under the name of 
the " plain of Aven," or field of 
the sun, Amos 1:5. This was 
the Heliopolis of Coele-Syria, 
now Baa.lbec. 

HELL. The Hebrew, Sheol, 
and the Greek Hades, usually 
translated hell, often signify the 
grave, or the place of departed 
spirits. Ps. 16:10. Isa. 14:9. 
Ezek. 31 : 16. Here was the rich 
man, after being buried. Luke 
16:23. The rebellious angels 
were also " cast down into hell, 
and delivered unto chains of 
darkness." 2 Pet. 2:4. These 
and many other passages in the 
O. T. show the futility of that 
opinion which attributes to the 



HER 



[133] 



HER 



Hebrews an ignorance of a future 
state. 

The Sheol of the Old Testa- 
ment, or the Hades of the New, 
according to the notions of the 
Hebrews,was avast subterranean 
receptacle, where the souls of the 
dead existed in a separate state 
until the resurrection of their 
bodies. The region of the bless- 
ed, or paradise, they supposed 
tc be in the upper part of this 
receptacie, while beneath was 
the abyss, or Gehenna in which 
the souls of the wicked were 
subjected to punishment. Isa. 
14:9. Luke 16:23. 

But the term hell is most com- 
monly applied to the place of 
Junishment in the unseen world, 
ews, Mussulmans and Christians 
have all depicted the horrors and 
the punishments of hell as their 
several fancies have conceived of 
it 5 but without entering into a dis- 
cussion upon these topics, we 
may remark, that Scripture is 
decisive as to the principal pun- 
ishment, consisting in a hopeless 
separation from God, and a pri- 
vation of his sight, and of the 
beatific vision of his countenance. 

HERESY, an option, or choice. 
It is usually taken in a bad sense, 
for some fundamental error in 
religion, adhered to with obsti- 
nacy. Paul says that there 
would be heresies in the church, 
that they who are tried might be 
made manifest. 1 Cor. 11:19. 
From the beginning of the Chris- 
tian church, there have been dan- 
gerous heresies, which attacked 
the most essential doctrines of 
our religion, such as the divinity 
of Jesus Christ, his office of Mes- 
siah, the reality and truth of his 
incarnation, the resurrection of 
the dead, the freedom of Chris- 
tians from legal ceremonies, and 
manv other points. 

HERMON, a mountain often 
12 



mentioned in Scripture. It was 
called by the Sidonians Sirion, 
and by the Ammonites Slienir. 
Deut. 3:9. It is an eastern arm 
of Anti-libanus, branching off 
from that mountain a little lower 
down than Damascus, and ex- 
tending in a direction south-south- 
east to the vicinity of the lake of 
Tiberias. The northern part is 
lofty, and is now called Djebel-el- 
Skeikh, and the southern, which 
is lower, Djebel Heish. Some 
have, without good reason, sup- 
posed that there was another 
Hermon, near mount Tabor ; and 
have, therefore, improperly given 
this name to the mountains of 
Gilboa. Ps.89:12. InPs.43:6, 
the English version has Hermon- 
ites ; it should be the Hermons, 
the word in Hebrew being in the 
plural to denote a chain of moun- 
tains 3 just as the Alps are always 
spoken of in the plural. 

HEROD, the name of four 
princes, Idumeans by descent, 
whogoverned either thewhole or a 
part of Judea, under the Romans, 
and are mentioned in the N. T. 

1. Herod the Great. Matt. c. 
2. Luke 1:5. He was the son 
of Antipater, an Idumean, who 
was in high favor with Julius 
Caesar. At the age of fifteen 
years, Herod was constituted by 
his father procurator of Galilee 
under Hyrcanus II, who was 
then at the head of the Jewish 
nation ; while his brother Phasa- 
elus was intrusted with the same 
authority over Judea. In these 
stations they were afterwards 
confirmed by Antony, with the 
title of tetrarch, about the year 
41 B. C. The power of Hyr- 
canus had always been opposed 
by his brother Aristobulus ; and 
now Antigonus, the son of the 
latter, continued in hostility to 
Herod, and was assisted by the 
Jews. At first he was unsuc- 



HER 



[134] 



HER 



-cessful, and was driven by Her- 
od out of the country ; but hav- 
ing obtained the aid of the Par- 
thians, he at length succeeded in 
defeating- Herod, and acquired 
possession of the whole of Judea, 
about the year 40 B. C. Herod 
meanwhile fled to Rome ; and 
being there declared king of Ju- 
dea through the exertions of An- 
tony, he collected an army, van- 
quished Antigonus, recovered 
Jerusalem, and extirpated all the 
family of the Maccabees, B. C. 
37. After the battle of Actium, 
in which his patron Antony was 
defeated, Herod joined the party 
of Octavius, and was confirmed 
by him in all his possessions. 
He endeavored to conciliate the 
affections of the Jews, by rebuild- 
ing and decorating the temple, 
(see Temple,) and by founding 
or enlarging many cities and 
towns j but the prejudices of the 
nation against a foreign yoke 
were only heightened when he 
introduced quinquennial games 
in honor of Caesar, and erected 
theatres and gymnasia at Jerusa- 
lem. The cruelty of his dispo- 
sition, also, was such as ever to 
render him odious. He put to 
death his own wife Mariamne, 
with her two sons Alexander and 
Aristobulus ; and when he him- 
self was at the point of death, 
he caused a number of the most 
illustrious of his subjects to be 
thrown into prison, and exacted 
from his sister a promise that they 
should be murdered the moment 
he expired, in order, as he said, 
that tears should be shed at the 
death of Herod. This promise, 
however, was not fulfilled. He 
died A. D. 2, aged seventy years, 
having reigned as king about 
forty years. It was during his 
reign that Jesus was born at 
Bethlehem ; and Herod, in con- 
sequence of his suspicious tem- 



per, and in order to destroy Je- 
sus, gave orders for the destruc- 
tion of all the children of two 
years old and under in the place ; 
as is also mentioned by Macro- 
bius. After the death of Herod, 
half of his kingdom, including Ju- 
dea, Idumea and Samaria, was 
given to his son Archelaus, with 
the title of ethnarch ; while the 
remaining half was divided be- 
tween two of his other sons, Hor- 
od Antipas and Philip, with the 
title of tetrarchs ; the former hav- 
ing the regions of Galilee and 
Perea, and the latter Batanea, 
Trachonitis and Auranitis. 

2. Herod Antipas. Matt. 14: 
1,3. Mark 6: 14. Luke3:l,&c. 
He was the son of Herod the 
Great by Malthace his Samari- 
tan wife, and own brother to 
Archelaus, along with whom he 
was educated at Rome. After 
the death of his father, he was 
appointed by Augustus to be 
tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, 
i. e. the southern part of the 
country east of the Jordan, 
Luke 3:1, whence, also, the very 
general appellation of king is 
sometimes given to him, e. g. 
Mark 6:14. He first married a 
daughter of Aretas, an Arabian 
king, but afterwards becoming 
enamored of Herodias, the. wife 
of his brother Herod Philip, and 
his own niece, he dismissed his 
former wife, and induced Hero- 
dias to leave her own husband, 
and connect herself with him. 
At her inst ; gation he afterwards 
went to Rome to ask for the dig- 
nity and title of king ; but being 
there accused before Caligula, at 
the instance of Herod Agrippa, 
his nephew and the brother of 
Herodias, he was banished to 
Lugdunum (now Lyons) in Gaul, 
about A. D. 41, and the prov- 
inces which he governed were 
given to Herod Agrippa, It 



HER 



[135] 



HER 



was Herod Antipas who caused 
John the Baptist to be beheaded. 
He also appears to have been a 
follower or at least a favorer of 
the sect of the Sadducees. Mark 
8:15. Comp. Matt. 16:6. 

3. Herod Agrippa Major or /. 
Acts c. 12. 23:35. He was a 
grandson of Herod the Great 
and Mariamne, and son of the 
Aristobulus who was put to death 
with his mother, by the orders of 
his father. (See above in No. 1.) 
On the accession of Caligula 
to the imperial throne, Agrippa 
was taken from prison, where he 
had been confined by Tiberius, 
and received from the emperor, 
A. D. 38, the title of king, to- 

f ether with the provinces which 
ad belonged to his uncle Philip 
the tetrarch, (see in No. 1,) and 
also to the tetrarch Lysanias. 
(See in Abilene.) He was af- 
terwards confirmed in the pos- 
session of these by Claudius, who 
also annexed to his kingdom 
all those parts of Judea and Sa- 
maria which had formerly be- 
longed to his grandfather Herod, 
A. D. 43. In order to ingratiate 
himself with the Jews, he com- 
menced a persecution against the 
Christians; but seems to have 
proceeded no further than to put 
to death James, and to imprison 
Peter, Acts c. 12, since he soon 
after died suddenly and misera- 
bly at Cesarea, A. D. 44. He 
is mentioned by Josephus only 
under the name of Agrippa. 

4. Herod Agrippa Minor or 
11. Acts c. 25. c. 26. He was 
the son of Herod Agrippa I, and 
was educated at Rome, under the 
care of the emperor Claudius. 
On the death of his father, which 
happened when he was seven- 
teen years old, instead of caus- 
ing him to succeed to his father's 
kingdom, the emperor set him 
oyer the kingdom of Chalcis, 



which had belonged to his uncle 
Herod. He was afterwards 
transferred (A. D. 53) from Chal- 
cis, with the title of king, to the 
government of those provinces 
which his father at first possessed, 
viz. Batanea, Trachonitis, Au> 
ranitis and Abilene, to which sev- 
eral other cities were afterwards 
added. He is mentioned in the 
N. T. and by Josephus only by 
the name of Agrippa. It was 
before him that St. Paul was 
brought by Festus. 

HERODIANS, partisans of 
Herod Antipas. Matt. 22:16. 
Mark 3:6. Herod was depend- 
ent on the Roman power, and 
his adherents therefore maintain- 
ed the propriety of paying tribute 
to Caesar, which the Pharisees de- 
nied. This explains Matt. 22:16.. 

HERODIAS, a granddaugh- 
ter of Herod the Great and Ma- 
riamne, daughter of Aristobulus,. 
and sister of Herod Agrippa I.. 
She was first married to her un- 
cle Herod Philip, but afterwards 
abandoned him and connected 
herself with his brother Herod 
Antipas. It was by her artifice, 
that Herod was persuaded to 
cause John the Baptist to be put 
to death, she being enraged at 
John on account of his bold de 
nunciation of the incestuous con- 
nection which subsisted between 
her and Herod. When Herod 
was banished to Lyons, she also 
accompanied him. Matt. 14:3,6. 
Mark 6:17. Luke 3:19. See 
Herod, No. 2. 

HERON, a water-fowl of the 
crane species. This name is put 
in Lev. 11:19. Deut. 14:18, for 
a Hebrew word of very uncer- 
tain meaning. Some say crane, 
others curlew ; others understand 
the genus of parrots ; but that 
the creature intended is some 
species of water-bird, there caa 
be little doubt, if we give the 



HIG 



[136 J 



H1N 



sacred writer any credit for pro- 
priety in his grouping, or system 
m his arrangement ; but * what 
that species may be, we are un- 
able to decide. See Birds. 

HESHBON, a celebrated city 
of the Amorites, twenty miles 
east of Jordan. Josh. 13 : 17. It 
was given to Reuben ; but was 
afterwards transferred to Gad, 
and then to the Levites. It had 
been conquered from the Moab- 
ites by Sihon, and became his 
capital ; and was taken by the 
Israelites a little before the death 
of Moses. Num. 21:25. Josh. 
21 :39. After the ten tribes were 
transplanted into the country be- 
yond Jordan, the Moabites re- 
covered it. The town still sub- 
sists under its ancient name, and 
is situated, according to Burck- 
hardt, on a hill. 

HEZEKIAH, a pious king 
of Judah, succeeded his father 
Ahaz, about 722 B. C. His his- 
tory is contained in 2 K. c. 18— 
20. 2 Chr. c. 29—32. Comp. 
Isa. c. 36—38. 

HIDDEKEL, one of the rivers 
of Paradise, put for the Tigris. 
See Eden. 
HIERAPOLIS, a city of Phry- 

fia, situated on its western bor- 
er, near the junction of the riv- 
ers Clydrus and Meander, and not 
far from Colosse and Laodicea. 
It was celebrated for its warm 
springs and baths. It is now 
desolate ; but its ruins still exhibit 
many traces of its ancient splen- 
dor. Col. 4:13. 

HIGH PLACES. The an- 
cient Canaanites, and other na- 
tions, worshipped their idols upon 
hills and mountains. Deut. 12 : 2. 
The Israelites were commanded 
to destroy these places of idol 
worship ; but instead of this, they 
imitated the practice, and at first 
worshipped Jehovah in high 
places, ISam. 9:12. IK. 3:4, 



and afterwards idols, 1 K. 11:7. 
2 K. 12 : 3. Here, also, they built 
chapels or temples, houses of the 
high places, 1 K. 13:32. 2 K. 
17:29, and had regular priests, 1 
K. 12 : 32. 2 K. 17:32. The proph- 
ets reproach the Israelites with 
want of zeal, for worshipping on 
the high places 3 the destroying of 
which is a commendation given 
but to few princes in Scripture j 
though several of them were zeal- 
ous for the law. Before the temple 
was built, the high places were not 
absolutely contrary to the law, 
provided God only was adored 
there. Under the judges, they 
seem to have been tolerated 5 
and Samuel offered sacrifice in 
several places where the ark was 
not present. Even in David's 
time, the people sacrificed to the 
Lord at Shilo, Jerusalem and 
Gibeon. The high places were 
much frequented in the kingdom 
of Israel 5 and on these hills they 
often adored idols, and committed 
a thousand abominations. 

HIN, a Hebrew measure con- 
taining the sixth part of a bath- 
one gallon and two pints. The 
kin was a liquid measure j as of 
oil, Exod. 30 : 24. Ezek. 45 : 24 ; 
or of wine, Exod. 29:40. Lev. 
23:13. 

HIND, a female deer, distin- 
guished for the lightness and ele- 
gance of its form. In Gen. 49 : 
21, it is said of Naphtali, that he 
shall be as " a hind let loose ; he 
giveth goodly words ;" where, 
instead of let loose, it should be 
translated (as we say of any 
thing which grows rapidly) shot 
up, i. e. grown up into a slen- 
der and graceful form. A fine 
woman is compared to the hind, 
Prov. 5 : 19 ; and also swift-foot- 
ed heroes, 2 Sam. 22:34. Hab. 
3:19. Such are to be the de- 
scendants of Naphtali : they are 
also to " give goodly words," i. e. 



HIN 



[137] 



HON 



the tribe is to be distinguished 
for its orators, prophets, poets ; 
perhaps, also, for its singers. 

HINNOM, i. e. the Valley of 
Hinnom, or of the son of Hin- 
nom, a narrow valley just south 
of Jerusalem, running westward 
from the valley of the Cedron, 
well watered, and in ancient 
times most verdant and delight- 
fully shaded with trees. It 
was here that the idolatrous Is- 
raelites established the worship 
of Moloch, under the form of a 
brazen image having the face of 
a bull ; and to this image they 
offered their own children in sac- 
rifice, causing them to be con- 
sumed in a furnace of fire into 
which they dropped from the 
arms of the idol. IK. 11:7. 2 K. 
16:3. The valley is also called 
Tophet, Jer. 7 :31, from the drums 
which were beaten to drown the 
cries of the victims. After the 
captivity, the Jews regarded this 
spot with abhorrence, on account 
of the abominations which had 
been practised there, and follow- 
ing the example of Josiah, 2 K. 
23 : 10, they threw into it every 
species of filth, as well as the 
carcasses of animals and the 
dead bodies of malefactors, etc. 
To prevent the pestilence which 
such a mass would occasion if 
left to putrefy, constant fires were 
maintained in the valley in or- 
der to consume the whole ; and 
hence the place received the ap- 
pellation of Gehenna of fire, i. e. 
the Hinnom of fire. By an easy 
metaphor, the Jews, who could 
imagine no severer torment than 
that of fire, transferred this name 
to the infernal fire, — to that part 
of Hades in which they supposed 
that demons and the souls of 
wicked men were punished in 
eternal fire, and which in the 
N. T. is always translated hell. 
Mark 9:43,45,47. See Hell. 
12* 



HITTITES, or the descend- 
ants of Heth, dwelt in the coun- 
try around Hebron. See under 
Canaanites. 

HIVITES, see under Cana- 
anites. 

HOLY. HOLINESS. These 
terms sometimes denote outward 
purity or cleanliness ; sometimes 
internal purity and sanctification. 
God is holy in a transcendent 
and infmitely perfect manner. 
He is the fountain of holiness, 
purity and innocency. He sanc- 
tifies his people, and requires 
perfect holiness in those who ap- 
proach him. He rejects all wor- 
ship which is not pure and holy, 
whether internal or external. 
The Messiah is called " the 
Holy One," Ps. 16:10. Luke 
4:34. Acts 3:14; and holy is 
the common epithet given to 
the third person of the Trinity, 
the Holy Spirit. The Jews were 
called a holy people, because 
they were separated unto God, 
to be a religious and consecrated 
people ; and Christians, as a 
body, are also called holy, be- 
cause they are in like manner 
separated unto Christ. But a 
' holy man,' in the ordinary Chris- 
tian sense, is one who exhibits in 
his conduct the inward purity, 
sanctity, and holy devotedness to 
the Saviour, with which his heart 
overflows. 

HOMER, the largest dry 
measure of the Hebrews, equal 
to ten baths or ephahs, and the 
same with the cor. Ezek. 45 : 14. 

HONEY was formerly very 
plentiful in Palestine ; and hence 
the frequent expressions of Scrip- 
ture, which import that that 
country was a land flowing with 
milk and honey. Moses says, that 
the Lord brought his people into 
a land whose rocks drop oil, and 
whose stones produce honey. 
Deut. 32: 13. Comp. also Ps. 81 : 



HOR 



[138] 



HOS 



16. Modern travellers observe, 
that it is -still very common there, 
and that the inhabitants mix it 
in all their sauces. Forskal says, 
the caravans of Mecca bring 
honey from Arabia to Cairo ; 
and often in the woods in Ara- 
bia has he seen honey flowing - . 
It would seem that this flowing 
honey is bee-honey, which may 
illustrate the story of Jonathan, 
1 Sam. 14:25,27. John Bap- 
tist, too, fed on wild honey. 
Matt. 3:4. There is, however, a 
vegetable honey that is very 
plentiful in the East. Burck- 
nardt, speaking of the produc- 
tions of the Gnor, or valley of 
the Jordan, says, one of the 
most interesting productions of 
this place, is the Beyrouk honey, 
as the Arabs call it. It was de- 
scribed to him as a juice drop- 
ping from the leaves and twigs 
of a tree called gharrab, of the 
size of an olive tree, with leaves 
like those of the poplar, but 
somewhat broader. The honey 
collects upon the leaves like dew, 
and is gathered from them, or 
from the ground under the tree, 
which is often found completely 
covered with it. It is very sweet 
when fresh, but turns sour after 
being kept for two days. The 
Arabs eat it with butter ; they 
also put it into their gruel, and 
use it in rubbing their water 
skins, for the purpose of exclud- 
ing the air. 

HOR, a mountain of a coni- 
cal form in the range of mount 
Seir, on "the east side of the 
Ghor or great valley running 
from the Dead sea to the Elanit- 
ic gulf. Here Aaron died ; and 
here his pretended tomb is still 
shown. See under Exodus. 

HORN sometimes means, in 
Scripture, an eminence or angle, 
a corner or rising. By horns of 
the altar of burnt-offerings, many 



understand the angles of that al 
tar ; but there were also horns of 
eminences at these angles. Exod. 
27:2. 30:2. See Altar. 

The principal defence and 
strength of many beasts are in 
their horns ; and hence the horn 
is often a symbol of strength and 
power. The Lord exalted the 
horn of David, and the horn of 
his people ; he breaketh the horn 
of the ungodly, &c. There may 
be an allusion in these passages, 
however, to a very common part 
of the female dress in some parts 
of the East. Mr. Buckingham, 
describing the ornaments of a 
female at Tyre, says, " She 
wore also on her head a hollow 
silver horn, rearing itself up- 
wards obliquely from her fore- 
head, being four or five inches in 
diameter at the root, and pointed 
at its extreme 5 and her ears, her 
neck and her arms were laden 
with rings, chains and bracelets. 
This peculiarity reminded me 
very forcibly of the expression 
of the psalmist : ' Lift not up 
thine horn on high, speak not 
with a stiff neck.' " 

HORNET, a well-known in- 
sect, which has a powerful sting. 
The Lord drove out the Canaan- 
ites before Israel by means of 
this insect. Deut. 7:20. Josh. 
24:12. Exod. 23:28. For an 
illustration of the manner in 
which this might be effected, 
without at the same time injuring 
the Israelites, it should be re- 
marked, that the latter, in the 
sandy wilderness, would escape 
this creature. Compare Fly. 

HOSANNA, a word of joyful 
acclamation, signifying in He- 
brew, save now, succor now, let 
him be victorious. In this sense 
the people cried Hosanna ! as 
Jesus entered in triumph into 
Jerusalem ; i. e. they thus invok- 
ed the blessings of Heaven on 



HOS 



L 139 j 



HOS 



him as the Messiah. Matt. 
21:9. 

HOSEA, the first of the 
-twelve . minor prophets, as ar- 
ranged in our Bibles. He 
prophesied for a long time, from 
Uzziah to Hezekiah. The book 
■of Hosea contains properly two 
parts. The first three chapters 
contain a series of symbolical 
actions, directed against the 
idolatries of Israel. The re- 
maining chapters are chiefly 
occupied with denunciations 
against Israel, and especially 
Samaria, for the worship of idols 
which prevailed there. 

HOSHEA, the last king of 
Israel, the successor of Pekah, 
whom he slew. 2 K. 15:30. 
B. C. 725. He reigned nine 
years, and was then carried 
away captive by Shalmaneser. 
2 K. c. 17. 

HOSPITALITY is regarded 
by all oriental nations as one of 
the highest virtues. It is just as 
prevalent now among the Arabs 
and others, as it was in ancient 
times ; and the following notices 
of modern travellers serve to il- 
lustrate very strikingly many 
passages of Scripture. Thus 
±>e la Roque says : " We did 
not arrive at the foot of the 
mountain till after sunset ; and it 
was almost night when we en- 
tered the plain; but as it was 
full of villages, mostly inhabited 
by Maronites, we entered into 
the first we came to, to pass the 
night there. It was the priest of 
the place, who wished to receive 
us ; he gave us a supper under 
the trees before his little dwelling. 
As we were at table, there came 
by a stranger, wearing a white 
turban, who, after having saluted 
the company, sat himself down 
to the table, without ceremony ; 
ate with us during some time, 
«nd then went away, repeating 



several times the name of God. 
They told us it was some travel- 
ler who, no doubt, stood in need 
of refreshment, and who had 
profited by the opportunity, ac- 
cording to the custom of the 
East, which is to exercise hospi- 
tality at all times, and toward all 
persons." The reader will be 
pleased to see the ancient hos- 
pitality of the East still main- 
tained, and even a stranger 
profiting by an opportunity of 
supplying his wants. It reminds 
us of the guests of Abraham, 
Gen. c. 18, of the conduct of 
Job, 31 : 17, and especially, per- 
haps, of that frankness with 
which the apostles of Christ were 
to enter into a man's house after 
a salutation, and there to con- 
tinue " eating and drinking such' 
things as were set before them," 
Luke 10 : 7. Such behavior 
would be considered as extreme- 
ly intrusive, and indeed insup- 
portable, among ourselves ; but 
the maxims of the East in this 
respect are altogether different 
from ours. It is to the honor of 
the Arabs, that the same feel- 
ing pervades all ranks, though 
all ranks cannot show it 
equally. There is something 
very pleasing in Niebuhr's de- 
scription of this custom : " The 
hospitality of the Arabs has 
always been the subject of 
praise ; and I believe that those 
of the present day exercise this 
virtue no less than their ancestors 
did. It is true that in this coun- 
try, as in Europe, if a stranger 
is not known, no one will entreat 
him to come in. Nevertheless, 
there are in the villages of the 
Tehama, houses which are pub- 
lic ; where travellers may lodge 
and be entertained some days 
gratis, if they will be content 
with the fare : they are very 
much frequented. We ourselves 



HOS 



[140] 



HOU 



were, during two hours, in one 
of these inns, in the village of 
Meneyre, in going from Loheia 
to Beit-el-fakih : my servants, my 
camels, my asses, and all my 
company received shelter. The 
sheikh of the village to whom 
this inn belonged, was not satis- 
fied with visiting us, and offering 
us a better fare than others ; he 
also entreated us to stop the 
night with him. In another 
journey from Beit-el-fakih to 
Takaite, in company with a 
fakih, or man of letters, of 
Arabia, although my fakih had 
no acquaintance with the sheikh, 
yet as a stranger he paid him 
his respects ; hardly was he re- 
turned, when the sheikh came 
himself to invite us to lodge with 
him; which we declining, he 
sent us a good supper, which 
came extremely a-propos. When 
the Arabs are at table, they in- 
vite those who happen to come, 
to eat with them, whether they 
be Christians or Mohammedans, 
gentle or simple. In the cara- 
vans, I have often seen with 
pleasure a mule-driver press 
those who passed to partake of 
his repast, and though the major- 
ity politely excused themselves, 
he gave, with an air of satisfac- 
tion, to those who would accept 
of it, a portion of his little meal 
of bread and dates ; and I was 
not a little surprised when I saw, 
in Turkey, rich Turks withdraw 
themselves into corners, to avoid 
inviting those who might other- 
wise have sat at table with 
them." 

We ought to notice here also 
the obligations understood to be 
contracted by the intercourse of 
the table. Niebuhr says, " When 
a Bedouin sheikh eats bread with 
strangers, they may trust his 
fidelity and depend on his pro- 
tection. A traveller will always 



do well, therefore, to take an 
early opportunity of securing the 
friendship of his guide by a 
meal." This will bring to recol- 
lection the complaint of the 
psalmist, Ps. 41:9, penetrated 
with the deep ingratitude of one 
whom he describes as having 
been his own familiar friend, in 
whom he trusted, " who did eat 
of my bread — even he hath 
lifted up his heel against me !" 

The primitive Christians con- 
sidered one principal part of their 
duty to consist in showing hospi- 
tality to strangers ; remembering 
that our Saviour had said, who- 
ever received those belonging to 
him, received himself; and that 
whatever was given to such an 
one, though but a cup of cold 
water, should not lose its reward. 
Matt. 10:40,41,42. They were, 
in fact, so ready in discharging 
this duty, that the very heathen 
admired them for it. They were 
hospitable to all strangers, but 
especially to those of the house- 
hold of faith. Believers scarcely 
ever travelled without letters of 
communion, which testified the 
purity of their faith, and procured 
them a favorable reception, 
wherever the name of Jesus 
Christ was known. Indeed, 
some suppose that the two minor 
epistles of John may be such 
letters of communion and recom- 
mendation. 

HOURS. The word hour, in 
Scripture, signifies one of the 
twelve equal parts into which 
each day was divided, and which 
of course were of different 
lengths at different seasons of 
the year. This mode of divid- 
ing the day prevailed among the 
Jews, at least after the exile, and 
perhaps earlier. Anciently, how 
ever, the usual division of the 
day was into four parts, viz. the 
morning ; the heat of the day, 



HOU 



[141] 



HOU 



commencing about the middle of 
the forenoon ; midday, and even- 
ing. In a similar manner, the 
Greeks appear at first to have 
divided the day into only three 
parts, to which they afterwards 
added a fourth division. These 
divisions are what Socrates ap- 
pears to have in mind, when he 
speaks of hours of the day, and 
afterwards of hours of the night. 
The ancient Hebrews, as well as 
the Greeks, appear to have di- 
vided the night also into three 
parts or watches, viz. the first 
watch, Lam. 2: 19 ; the middle, or 
second watch, Judg. 7: 19 ; and the 
morning, or third watch, Ex. 
14:24. But afte-r the Jews be- 
came subject to the Romans, 



they adopted the Roman 
of dividing the night into four 
watches, viz. the evening, ox first 
quarter after sunset ; the mid- 
night, or second quarter, ending 
at midnight ; cockcrowing, or 
third quarter, from midnight on ; 
and the morning, or fourth 
quarter, including the dawn 
Mark 13:35. 

HOUSE is often put for 
dwelling, residence; and hence 
the temple, and even the taber- 
nacle, are called the house of 
God. 

The universal mode of build- 
ing houses in the East, is in the 
form of a hollow square, with 
an open court or yard in the 
centre 5 which is thus entirely 




HOU 



[ 142 ] 



HOU 



shut in by the walls of the house 
around it. Into this court all the 
windows open ; there being 
usually no windows towards the 
street. These courts are com- 
monly paved j and in many 
large houses parts of them are 
planted with shrubs and trees; 
and they have, also, when possi- 
ble, a fountain in them, often with 
ajetd'eau. It is customary, also, 
in many houses, to extend an 
awning over the whole court in 
hot weather ; and the people of 
the house then spend much of the 
day in the open air, and indeed 
often receive visits there. In 
Aleppo, at least, there is often, 



on the south side of tne court, aa 
alcove, in the wall of the house, 
furnished with divans or sofas, 
for reclining and enjoying the 
fresh air in the hot seasons. The 
engraving on the preceding page 
represents such a court with its 
alcove, and a fountain playing 
before it. 

In the middle of the front of 
each house, is usually an arched 
passage, or gateway, leading into 
the court. The entrance into 
the house is often front this pas- 
sage, or from the court itself. 
The following view, on entering 
the interior of such a court, is 
from Dr. Shaw. 




The following extracts from 
Dr. Shaw will interest the reader, 
and at the same time serve to il- 
lustrate many passages of Scrip- 
ture. He remarks : " The gen- 
eral method of building, both in 
Barbary and the Levant, seems 
to have continued the same, from 
the earliest ages, without the 
least alteration or improvement. 
Large doors, spacious chambers, 
marble pavements, cloistered 
courts, with fountains sometimes 



playing in the midst, are cer- 
tainly conveniences very well 
adapted to the circumstances of 
these climates, where the sum- 
mer heats are generally so in- 
tense. The jealousy, likewise, 
of these people is less apt to 
be alarmed, whilst all the win- 
dows open into their respective 
courts, if we except a latticed 
window or balcony which some- 
times looks into the streets. 
" The streets of these cities. 



HOU 



[143] 



HOU 



the batter to shade them from the 
sun, are usually narrow, with 
sometimes a range of shops on 
■each side. If from these we 
-enter into one of the principal 
houses, we shall first pass through 
■a porch or gate-way with benches 
on each side, where the master 
of the family receives visits and 
despatches business ; few per- 
sons, not even the nearest rela- 
tions, having a further admission, 
•except upon extraordinary occa- 
sions. From hence we are re- 
ceived into the court, or quad- 
Tangle, which, lying open to the 
-weather, is, according to the 
-ability of the owner, paved with 
marble, or such materials as 
will immediately carry off the 
water into the common sewers. 
There is something very analo- 
gous betwixt this open space in 
these buildiugs and the implu- 
vimn of the Romans j both of 
them being alike exposed to the 
"weather, and giving light to the 
house. When much people are 
to be admitted, as upon the cel- 
ebration of a marriage, the cir- 
cumcising of a child, or occasions 
of the like nature, the company 
•is rarely or never received into 
one of the chambers. The court 
is the usual place of their recep- 
tion, which is strewed, accord- 
ingly, with mats and carpets for 
their more commodious enter- 
tainment. Now, as this part of 
the house is always allotted for 
the reception of large companies, 
being also called the middle of 
the house, literally answering to 
' the midst' of Luke, 5:19, it is 
probable, that the place where 
our Saviour and the apostles 
were frequently accustomed to 
give their instructions, might 
have been in the like situation ; 
that is, in the area, or quadran- 
gle, of one of this kind of houses. 
In the summer season, and 



upon all occasions when a large 
company is to be received, this 
court is commonly sheltered from 
the heat or inclemency of the 
weather, by a veil, or awning, 
which, being expanded upon 
ropes from one side of the par- 
apet wall to the other, may be 
folded or unfolded at pleasure. 
The psalmist seems to allude 
either to the tents of the Bedou- 
ins, or to some covering of this 
kind, in that beautiful expression, 
of spreading out the heavens like 
a veil, or curtain. The court 
is for the most part surrounded 
with a cloister ; as the impluvium 
of the Romans was with a col- 
onnade ; over which, when the 
house hath one or more stories, 
(and I have seen them with two 
or three,) there is a gallery 
erected, of the same dimensions 
with the cloister, having a balus- 
trade, or else a piece of carved 
or latticed work going round 
about it, to prevent people from 
falling from it into the court. 
From the cloisters and galleries, 
we are conducted into large 
spacious chambers, of the same 
length with the court, but seldom 
or never communicating with 
one another. One of them fre 
quently serves a whole family; 
particularly when a father in 
dulges his married children to live 
with him 5 or when several per- 
sons join in the rent of the same 
house. From whence it is, that 
the cities of these countries, 
which in general are much in- 
ferior in bigness to those of Eu- 
rope, yet are so exceedingly 
populous, that great numbers of 
people are always swept away 
by the plague, or any other con- 
tagious distemper. 

" The top of the house, which 
is always flat, is covered with a 
strong plaster of terrace 3 from 
whence, in the Frank language, 



HOU 



[ 144 ] 



HOU 



it nath attained the name of the 
Terrace; a word made use of, 
likewise, in several parts of these 
countries. It is usually sur- 
rounded by two walls ; the outer- 
most whereof is partly built over 
the street, partly maketh the 
partition with the contiguous 
houses, being frequently so low 
that one may easily climb over 
it. The other, which I call the 
parapet wall, hangs immediately 
over the court, being always 
breast high, which we render 
the battlements. Deut. 22:8. 
Instead of this parapet wall, 
some terraces are guarded in 
the same manner the galleries 
are, with balustrades only, or 
latticed work ; in which fashion 
probably, as the name seems to 
import, was the net, or lattice, as 
we render it, that Ahaziah, 2 K. 
1 :2, might be carelessly leaning 
over, when he fell down from 
thence into the court. For 
upon these terraces several of- 
fices of the family are performed ; 
such as the drying of linen and 
flax, Josh. 2:6, the preparing of 
figs and raisins ; here, likewise, 
they enjoy the cool, refreshing 
breezes of the evening; converse 
with one another, and offer up 
their devotions. In the Feast of 
Tabernacles booths were erected 
upon them. Neh. 8:16. When 
one of these cities is built upon 
level ground, we can pass from 
one end of it to the other, 
along the tops of the houses, 
without coming down into the 
street. 

*' Such, in general, is the man- 
ner and contrivance of the 
eastern houses. And if it may 
be presumed that our Saviour, at 
the healing of the paralytic, was 
preaching in a house of this fash- 
ion, we may, by attending only 
to the structure of it, give no 
small light to one circumstance 



of that history, which hath given 

great offence to some unbe- 
evers. For, among other pre- 
tended difficulties and absurdi- 
ties relating to this fact, it hath 
been urged, that the uncovering 
or breaking up of the roof, Mark 
2:4, or the letting a person down 
through itj Luke 5:19, supposes 
the breaking up of tiles, rafters, 
&c." But it is only necessary 
here to suppose that the crowd 
being so great around Jesus in 
the court below, that those who 
brought the sick man could not 
come near him, they went upon 
the flat roof, and removing a part 
of the awning, let the sick man 
down in his mattress over the 
parapet, quite at the feet of 
Jesus. 

Dr. Shaw proceeds to describe 
a sort of addition to many oriental 
houses, which corresponds prob- 
ably to the upper chamber often 
mentioned in the Bible. He 
says : " To most of these houses 
there is a smaller one annexed, 
which sometimes rises one story 
higher than the house ; at other 
times it consists of one or two 
rooms only and a terrace ; whilst 
others, that are built (as they fre- 
quently are) over the porch or 
gateway, have (if we except the 
ground floor, which they have 
not) all the conveniences that 
belong to the house, properly so 
called. There is a door of com- 
munication from them into the 
gallery of the house, kept open or 
shut at the discretion of the mas- 
ter of the family ; besides another 
door, which opens immediately 
from a privy-stairs down into the 
porch or street, without giving the 
least disturbance to the house. 
These smaller houses are known 
by the name alee, or oleah, and in 
them strangers are usually lodged 
and entertained ; in them the 
sons of the family are permittee! 



HOU 



[145] 



HUS 



to keep their concubines ; and 
thither, likewise, the men are 
wont to retire, from the hurry 
and noise of their families, to be 
more at leisure for meditation 
or devotion ; besides the use they 
are at other times put to, in 
serving for wardrobes and mag- 
azines." 

The following engraving shows 
such an addition to a house, built 
over the porch, within the court, 
and consisting of only one room ; 
but, as is said above, they are often 
built higher and with a flat roof. 




This, then, or something like 
this, we may suppose to have 
been the oleah or upper chamber 
of the Hebrews. Such was the 
u little chamber upon the wall/' 
which the Shunammite had built 
for Elisha, 2 K. 4 : 10 ; the " sum- 
mer parlor" of Eglon, Judg. 
3:20; and the "chamber over 
the gate," where David retired 
to weep, 2 Sam. 18:33 ; so also 
in the N. T. the " upper chamber''' 
where Tabithawas laid out, Acts 
9 : 37, and whence Eutychus fell 
from the window of the third loft 
into the court, Acts 20 : 9. 

The flat roofs of oriental houses 
often afford a place of retirement 
13 



and meditation; here Samuel 
communed with Saul, 1 Sam. 
9 : 25 ; and from vs. 26, they would 
seem also to have slept there, as is 
still common in the East. Mr. 
Wood says : " It has ever been 
a custom with them, [the Arabs 
in the East,] equally connected 
with health and pleasure, to pass 
the nights in summer upon the 
house-tops, which, for this very 
purpose, are made flat, and di- 
vided from each other by walls. 
We found this way of sleeping 
extremely agreeable ; as we 
thereby enjoyed the cool air, 
above the reach of gnats and 
vapors, without any other cover- 
ing than the canopy of the heav- 
ens, which unavoidably presents 
itself in different pleasing forms, 
upon every interruption of rest, 
when silence and solitude strong- 
ly dispose the mind to contempla- 
tion." 

The common material for 
building oriental houses is stone 
or brick. But the houses of the 
poorer class of people in the East 
are very bad constructions, con- 
sisting of mud walls, reeds and 
rushes; whence they become apt 
comparisons to the fragility of hu- 
man life ; and as mud, slime, or 
at best unburnt brick, is used in 
forming the walls, the expression, 
Job 24:16, of " digging through 
houses" is easily accounted for ; 
as is the behavior of Ezekiel, 
12:5, who dug through such a 
wall in the sight of the people ; 
whereby, as may be imagined, 
he did little injury to his house j 
notwithstanding which, the sym- 
bol was very expressive to the 
beholders. 

HUSHAI, the Archite, David's 
friend. Being informed of Ab- 
salom's rebellion, and that David 
was obliged to fly from Jerusa- 
lem, he met him on an eminence 
without the citv, with his clothes 



HUS 



[146] 



HYS 



rent and his head covered with 
earth. David suggested, that if 
he went with him he would be a 
burden to him ; but that he might 
do him important service if he 
should remain and pretend to be 
in Absalom's interest, in order to 
defeat the counsel of Ahithophel. 
2 Sam: 15:32, &c. Hushai, 
therefore, returned to Jerusalem, 
and by defeating' the counsel of 
Ahithophel, and gaining time for 
David, to whom he sent advices, 
was the cause of Ahithophel's 
suicide, and of Absalom's mis- 
carriage. 16:16— 19. 17:5, &c. 
HUSKS. By this word we 
usually understand the covering 
stripped off from the ears of 
Indian corn ; but in the Bible 
this name is applied to pods, 
or shells, as of peas and beans. 
The prodigal son, oppressed by 
want and pinched by hunger, 
desired to feed on the husks, 
or pods, given to the hogs. Luke 
15:16, The Greek word here 
used, means the carob-beans, the 
fruit of a tree of the same name. 
This fruit is common in Palestine, 
Greece, Italy, Provence and 
Barbary : it is suffered to ripen 
and grow dry on the tree ; the 
poor eat it, and cattle are fattened 
with it. The tree is of a middle 
size, full of branches, and 
abounding with round leaves, an 
inch or two in diameter. The 
blossoms are little red clusters, 
with abundance of yellowish 
stalks. The fruits are flat pods, 
from half a foot to fourteen inches 
long, and an inch and a half 
broad : they are brown at the 
top, sometimes crooked, com- 
posed of two husks, separated by 
membranes into several cells, and 
containing flat, shining seeds, 
something like those of cassia. 
The substance of these husks is 
filled with a sweetish, honey-like 
kind of juice, not unlike that of 



the pith of cassia. In all proba- 
bility, its crooked figure occasion- 
ed its being called, in Greek, ke- 
ratia, which signifies little horns. 
The tree is called, in French, 
caroubier ; and by the Germans, 
Johannisbrodbaum, i. e. " John's- 
bread-tree," because John the 
Baptist was supposed to have 
lived on its fruit. 

HYMENEUS was probably 
a citizen of Ephesus, converted 
by some of the early discourses 
of Paul. He fell afterwards into 
the heresy which denied the 
resurrection of the body, and 
said it was already accomplished 
2 Tim. 2:17,18. Paul had al 
ready in his previous epistle in 
formed Timothy, that he hac 
excommunicated Hymeneus. 1 
Tim. 1:20. 

HYMN, a religious song or 
poem. The word is used as 
synonymous with canticle, song 
or psalm, which the Hebrews 
scarcely distinguish, having no 
particular term for a hymn as 
distinct from a psalm or canticle. 
Paul requires Christians to enter- 
tain one another with " psalms 
and hymns, and spiritual songs." 
Matthew says that Christ, having 
supped, sung a hymn, and went 
out. He probably recited the 
hymns or psalms which the Jews 
used to sing after the passover, 
which they called the HalaL; 
that is. the Hallelujah Psalms. 

HYPOCRITE, one who feigns 
to be what he is not ; one who 
puts on a false person, like actors 
in tragedies and comedies. The 
epithet is generally applied to 
those who assume the appear- 
ance of virtue, without possess- 
ing the reality. Our Saviour 
accused the Pharisees of hypoc- 
risy. 

HYSSOP is often mentioned 
in Scripture, and is directed to 
be used in the sprinklings which 



IDO 



[147] 



IDO 



made part of the Jewish ceremo- 
nial law. It is not, however, the 
herb called hyssop by us ; but a 
low shrub, which is contrasted 
with the lofty cedar. 1 K. 4:33. 
It grows in the East, and in the 
south of Europe, and its stem 
usually rises to the height of a 
foot and a half, and in Palestine 



of two feet or more. In John 
19:29, the soldiers are said to 
have " filled a sponge with vin- 
egar and put it upon hyssop," 
i. e. upon a rod of hyssop, two 
feet or more in length, which 
was long enough to enable one 
to reach the mouth of a person on 
the cross. 



I. 



ICONIUM, a large and opu- 
lent city of Asia Minor, now 
called Konieh or Cogni. The 
provinces of Asia Minor varied 
so much at different times, that 
Iconium is assigned by different 
writers to several of them; to 
Phrygia, by Xenophon ; to Ly- 
caonia, by Strabo ; and to Pisidia 
by Ammianus. In the time of 
Paul, it probably belonged to 
Pisidia. Acts 14:1. At present, 
Konieh is the capital of Carama- 
nia. It is situated in a beautiful 
and fertile country, 260 miles 
south-east of Constantinople. It 
is very large, and its walls are 
supported by 108 square towers, 
forty paces distant from each 
other. The inhabitants are Turks, 
Armenians and Jews. 

IDDO, a prophet of Judah, 
who wrote the history of Reho- 
boam and Abijah. 2 Chr. 13:22. 
Josephus and others are of opin- 
ion, that he was sent to Jeroboam, 
at Bethel, and that it was he who 
was killed by a lion. 1 K. c. 13. 
Several other persons of this 
name are mentioned in Scrip- 
ture. 

IDOL, IDOLATRY. The 
word idol signifies, in general, a 
representation or figure. It is 
always taken in Scripture in a 
bad sense, for representations of 
heathen deities, whether men, 
stars or animals ; whether figures 



in relief, or in painting, or of 
what matter or nature soever. 
God forbids all sorts of idols, or 
figures and representations of 
creatures, formed or set up with 
intention of paying superstitious 
worship to them. Ex. 20:3,4. 

The heathen had idols of all 
sorts, and of all kinds of mate- 
rials ; as gold, silver, brass, 
stone, wood, potter's earth, &c. 
Stars, spirits, men, animals, riv- 
ers, plants and elements were the 
subjects of them. Some nations 
worshipped a rough stone. Such 
is the black stone of the ancient 
Arabs, retained by Mohammed, 
and now kept in the Caaba at 
Mecca. 

It is impossible to ascertain the 
period at which idolatry, or the 
worship of false gods and idols, 
was introduced. Still there is 
reason to think that idolatry was 
common before the deluge ; the 
inundation of wickedness inti- 
mated in the expression, " All 
flesh had corrupted its way," no 
doubt included impiety of wor- 
ship as well as the infamous ir- 
regularities of incontinence and 
violence. Josephus, and many 
of the fathers, were of opinion, 
that soon after the deluge, idol- 
atry became the prevailing reli- 
gion : and certainly, wherever we 
turn our eyes after the time of 
Abraham, we see only a false 



IDO 



[ 148] 



IDO 



worship. The patriarch's fore- 
fathers, and even himself, were 
engaged in it, as is evident from 
Josh. 24:2,14. 

The Hebrews had no peculiar 
form of idolatry; they imitated 
the superstitions of others, but do 
not appear to have been the in- 
ventors of any. When they were 
in Egypt, they worshipped Egyp- 
tian deities ; in the wilderness, 
they worshipped those of the 
Canaanites, Egyptians, Ammon- 
ites and Moabites ; in Judea, 
those of the Phoenicians, Syrians, 
and other people around them. 
Rachel, probably, had adored 
idols at her father Laban's, since 
she carried off his teraphim. Gen. 
31:30. Jacob, after his return 
from Mesopotamia, required his 
people to reject the strange gods 
from among them, and also the 
superstitious pendants worn by 
them in their ears, which he hid 
under the terebinth, near She- 
chem. He preserved his family 
in the worship of God while he 
lived; but after his death, part 
of his sons worshipped Egyptian 
deities. See Josh. 24:23. 

Under the government of the 
judges, they often fell into idol- 
atry. Gideon, after he had been 
favored by God with so particu- 
lar a deliverance, made an 
ephod, which ensnared the Isra- 
elites in unlawful worship. Judg. 
8:27. Micah's teraphim are 
well known, and the worship of 
them continued in Israel till the 
dispersion of the people. Judg. 
17:5. 18:30,31. Previously, 
** the children of Israel did evil 
in the sight of the Lord, and 
served Baalim. They forsook 
the Lord God of their fathers, 
and followed other gods — of the 
gods of the people that were 
round about them ; and they for- 
sook the Lord and served Baal 
and Ashtaroth." Judg. 2:1112. 



During the times of Samuel, 
Saul, and David, the worship of 
God seems to have been pre- 
served pure in Israel. There 
was corruption and irregularity 
of manners, but little or no idol- 
atry. Solomon, seduced by 
complaisance to his strange 
wives, caused temples to be 
erected in honor of their gods, 
and himself impiously offered in- 
cense to them. 1 K. 11:5 — 7. 
He adored Ashtaroth, goddess 
of the Phoenicians, Moloch, god 
of the Ammonites, and Chemosh, 
god of the Moabites. Jeroboam, 
who succeeded Solomon, set up 
golden calves at Dan and Bethel, 
and made Israel to sin. The 
people, no longer restrained by 
royal authority, worshipped not 
only these golden calves, but all 
the deities of the Phoenicians, 
Syrians, Ammonites, and Mo- 
abites. Under the reign of 
Ahab, idolatry reached its height. 
The impious Jezebel endeavored 
to extinguish the worship of the 
Lord, by persecuting his proph- 
ets, (who, as a barrier, still re- 
tained some of the people in the 
true religion,) till God, incensed 
at their idolatry, abandoned Is- 
rael to the kings of Assyria and 
Chaldea, who transplanted them 
beyond the Euphrates. Judah 
was almost equally corrupted. 
The descriptions given by the 
prophets of their irregularities 
and idolatries, their abominations 
and lasciviousness on the high 
places, and in woods consecrated 
to idols, fill us with dismay, and 
discover the corruption of the 
heart of man. After the return 
from Babylon, we do not find the 
Jews any more reproached with 
idolatry. They expressed much 
zeal for the worship of God ; 
and except some transgressors 
under Antiochus Epiphanes, 
1 Mac. 1:13, &c. the people 



IDO 



[ 149] 



IDU 



kept themselves clear from this 
sin. 

As the maintenance of the 
worship of the only true God was 
one of the fundamental objects 
of the Mosaic polity, and as that 
God was regarded as the king of 
the Israelitish nation; so we find 
idolatry, that is, the worship of 
other gods, occupying, in the 
Mosaic law, the first place in the 
list of crimes. It was indeed a 
crime, not merely against God, 
but also against the fundamental 
law of the state, and thus a sort 
of high treason. The only living 
and true God was also the civu 
legislator and ruler of Israel, 
and accepted by them as their 
king ; and hence idolatry was a 
crime against the state, and 
therefore just as deservedly pun- 
ished with death, as high treason 
is in modern times. By the 
Jewish law, an idolater was to 
be stoned to death. Deut. 
17:2,5. 

At the present day, idolatry 
prevails over a great portion of 
the earth. Almost all the heathen 
nations, as the Chinese, the Hin- 
doos, the South sea islanders, &c. 
have their images, to which they 
bow down and worship. In 
some lands professedly Christian, 
it is to be feared that the adora- 
tion of crucifixes and paintings 
is nothing more nor less than 
idol worship. But when we 
regard idolatry in a moral point 
of view, as consisting not merely 
in the external worship of false 
gods, but in the preference of, 
and devotion to, something else 
than the Most High, — how many 
Christians must then fall under 
this charge ! Whoever loves 
this world, or the pursuits of 
wealth, or honor, or ambition, 
and for these forgets or neglects 
God and Christ ; such an one is 
an idolater in as bad a sense, at 
13* 



least, as the ancient Israelites, 
and cannot hope to escape an 
awful condemnation. 

IDUMEA, the name given by 
the Greeks to the land of Edom, 
which extended, originally, from 
the Dead sea to the Elanitic gulf 
of the Red sea. Afterwards it 
extended more into the south of 
Judah, towards Hebron. The 
character and present state of 
mount Seir, the ancient Edom, 
or Idumea, is referred to under 
the article Exodus. It consists 
of the long chain of mountains 
reaching from the Dead sea to 
the gulf of Akaba, between the 
great sandy valley El-Ghor and 
El Araba on the west, (see Jor- 
dan,) and the Arabian desert on 
the east. The northern part of 
this chain is now called Djebal, 
the ancient Gebal, which see ; 
the middle of the chain still 
takes the name Djebal Shera, 
or mount Seir ; and the southern 
part is called Djebal Hesma. 
The whole chain is intersected 
with valleys and ravines, running 
down from the desert east to the 
Ghor west. 

Besides this region, the proper 
seat of the Edomites, they ap- 
pear to have extended their con- 
quests to the east and north-east 
of Moab, and to have had pos- 
session of the country of which 
Bozra was the chief city. To 
this they of course had access 
through the intervening desert, 
without crossing the countries of 
the Moabites and Amorites. 
The capital of East Idumea was 
Bozra; the capital of South 
Edom was Petra, or Sela, i. e. 
the rock, because it was exca- 
vated in part from a mountain. 
It is now called Wady Mousa. 
(See Sela.) The Idumeans, 
or Edomites, were, as their name 
implies, descendants of Edom, 
or Esau, elder brother of Jacob. 



ILL 



[150] 



INC 



They were governed by dukes 
or princes ; and afterwards by 
their own kings. Gen. 36:31. 
They continued independent till 
the time of David, who subdued 
them, in completion of Isaac's 
prophecy, that Jacob should rule 
Esau. Gen. 27:29." The Idu- 
means bore their subjection with 
great impatience, and at the end 
of Solomon's reign, Hadad, the 
Edomite, who had been carried 
into Egypt during his childhood, 
returned into his own country, 
where he procured himself to be 
acknowledged king. 1 Kings 
11:21,22. It is probable, how- 
ever, that he reigned only in 
East Edom ; for that south of 
Judea continued subject to the 
kings of Judah till the reign of 
Jehoram, against whom it re- 
belled. 2 Chr. 21 : 8. Amaziah 
king of Judah also discomfited 
the Edomites, killed 1000 men, 
and cast 10,000 more from a 

Erecipice. 2 Chr. 25:11,12. 
!ut these conquests were not 
permanent. When Nebuchad- 
nezzar besieged Jerusalem, the 
Idumeans joined him, and en- 
couraged him to raze the very 
foundations of the city 5 but their 
cruelty did not long continue 
unpunished. Five years after 
the taking of Jerusalem, Nebu- 
chadnezzar humbled all the states 
round Judea, particularly Idu- 
mea; and John Hircanus en- 
tirely conquered the people, and 
obliged them to receive circum- 
cision and the law. They con- 
tinued subject to the later kings 
of Judea till the destruction of 
Jerusalem by the Romans. Ul- 
timately, the Idumeans became 
mingled with the Ishmaelites, 
and they were jointly called 
Nabatheans, from Nebajoth, a 
son of Ishmael. 

ILLYRICUM, a country of 
Europe, lying east of the Adri- 



atic sea, north of Epirus, and 
west of Macedonia. It was 
anciently divided into Liburnia, 
now Croatia, on the north ; and 
Dalmatia on the south, which 
still retains its name. (See Dal- 
matia.) The limits of Illyri- 
cum varied much at different 
times. Rom. 15:19. 

IMAGE is a copy or represen- 
tation of any thing. It is often 
used in Scripture for a statue, 
figure, idol, &c. It is also often 
employed to denote a moral 
likeness, resemblance, copy, &c. 
So Adam is said to have been 
made in the image of God. See 
Adam. 

In Paul's epistles, Christ is 
called "the image of God," 2 
Cor. 4:4; "the image of the 
invisible God, the first-born of 
every creature," Col. 1 : 15 ; and 
" the brightness of his glory, the 
express image of his substance," 
Heb. 1:3. This is not a mere 
image and no more, a ray on- 
ly; but an emanation from the 
Father, an efflux of his light and 
substance, his very essence. 
The apostle requires that, " as 
we have borne trie image of the 
earthly, we should likewise bear 
the image of the heavenly," 
1 Cor. 15:49; i. e. as we have 
borne the image of sinful and 
offending Adam, as we have 
imitated his sin and disobedience, 
so we should endeavor to retrace 
on our souls the features of the 
heavenly man Christ Jesus, his 
obedience, humility, patience, 
meekness, &c. or as the passage, 
perhaps, more properly means, to 
be cast in the mould, as a figure. 

INCENSE, more properly 
Frankincense, an aromatic and 
odoriferous gum, which flows 
out from a tree named by the 
ancienls thurifera; its leaves 
resemble those of a pear-tree, 
according to Theophrastus, and 



INC 



[151 ] 



INC 



it grows in Arabia and around 
mount Lebanon. Incisions are 
made in it, in the dog-days, to 
procure the gum. Male incense 
is the best ; it is round, white, 
fat, and kindles on being put to 
the fire. It is also called oliba- 
num. Female incense is de- 
scribed as soft, more gummy, 
and less agreeable in smell than 
the other. That of Saba was 
the best,. and most esteemed by 
the ancients, who speak of it 
with great approbation. 

The proper incense burnt in 
the sanctuary, was a mixture of 
sweet spices. Ex. 30:34, &c. To 
offer incense among the Hebrews 
was an office peculiar to the 
priests; for which purpose they 
entered into the holy apartment 
of the temple, every morning 
and evening. On the great day 
of expiation, the high-priest 
burnt incense in his censer as he 
entered the sanctuary, that the 
smoke which arose from it might 
prevent his looking with too 
much curiosity on the ark and 
mercy-seat. Lev. 16:13. The 
Levites were not permitted to 
touch the censers ; and Korah, 
Dathan and Abiram suffered a 
terrible punishment for violat- 
ing this prohibition. " Incense" 
sometimes signifies the sacrifices 
and fat of victims ; as no other 
kind of incense was offered on 
the altar of burnt-offering's. Ps. 
66 : 15. For a description of the 
altar of incense, see the article 

INCHANTMENTS. The law 
of God condemns all who prac- 
tise magic and inchantments. 
Such persons are known by the 
names of inchanters, magicians, 
jugglers, sorcerers, wizards, 
necromancers, &c. Scripture 
speaks of all these kinds, and 
they are all forbidden. See 
Sorcerer. 



It was common for magicians, 
sorcerers and inchanters, to 
speak in a low voice or whisper. 
Hence one kind is called in He- 
brew whisperers, or mutterers. 
They may be called, perhaps, 
ventriloquists, because they 
spake, as one would suppose, 
from the bottom of their stom- 
achs. They affected secrecy and 
mysterious ways, to conceal the 
vanity, folly or infamy of their 
pernicious art; though their pre- 
tended magic often consisted in 
cunning tricks only, as sleight-of- 
hand, or some natural secrets 
unknown to the ignorant. They 
affected obscurity and night, or 
would show their skill only be- 
fore the uninformed, and feared 
nothing so much as serious ex- 
amination, broad daylight, and 
the inspection of the intelligent. 

But the inchantment practised 
upon serpents in the East, partly 
by the aid of music, is one of 
the most singular things we 
know of. The accounts given 
by travellers in the East and in 
Egypt, of their power, are very 
remarkable ; although no solution 
of the appearances has yet been 
given. The facts, however, 
seem too well attested to admit 
of doubt, and are often alluded 
to by ancient writers. 

Mr. Brown says, " The charm- 
ers of serpents are worthy of 
remark ; their powers seem ex- 
traordinary. The serpent most 
common at Kahira, [Cairo,] is 
of the viper class, and undoubt- 
edly poisonous. If one of them 
enter a house, the charmer is 
sent for, who uses a certain form 
of words. I have seen three 
serpents enticed out of the cabin 
of a ship lying near the shore. 
The operator handled them, and 
then put them into a bag. At 
other times I have seen the ser- 
pents twist around the bodies of 



INC 



[152] 



INC 



these persons in all directions, 
without having had their fangs 
extracted or broken, and without 
doing them any injury." 

Niebuhr, in speaking of the 
puppet-shows and sleight-of-hand 
tricks exhibited for the amuse- 
ment of the populace in Cairo, 
remarks : " Others exhibit ser- 
pents dancing. This may ap- 
pear incredible to those who are 
unacquainted with the natural 
propensities of these animals ; 
but certain kinds of serpents 
seem to be agreeably affected by 
music. They raise their heads, 
when they hear a drum, and 
this, their instinctive propensity 
to elevate the head and part of 
the body and to make some 
motions and turns, is called 
dancing." 

In Forbes's Oriental Memoirs, 
we find an account of the cobra 
de capello, or hooded snake, 
called also the spectacle snake; 
it is a large and beautiful serpent, 
but one of the most poisonous 
known; its bite occasions death 
usually in less than an hour. Of 
this kind are the dancing serpents, 
which are carried about in bas- 
kets throughout all Hindostan by 
a certain class of persons, who 
get their living in this way. They 
give certain tones upon a flute, 
which appear to produce an 
agreeable effect upon the ser- 
pents ; since they seem to beat 
time, as it were, to the flute, by 
a graceful motion of the head. 
They raise the upper part of their 
body from the ground, and follow 
the music in graceful curves, like 
the undulating movements of a 
swan's neck. It is a fact suffi- 
ciently well attested, that when 
any of these or of other kinds of 
vipers have got into a house, and 
make havoc among the poultry 
or other small domestic animals, 
it is customary to send for one of 



these musicians, who, by tones 
upon his flute or flageolet, finds 
out the hiding-places of the ser- 
pents, and allures them to their 
destruction; indeed, so soon as 
the serpents hear the music, they 
creep quietly out of their holes, 
and are easily taken. This may 
serve to illustrate Ps. 58:4,5. In 
regard to the dancing serpents, 
the music seems essential to their 
motions ; for as soon as it ceases, 
the serpent lies motionless ; and 
unless it is immediately replaced 
in its basket, the spectators are 
in great danger. 

Dr. Hasselquist also says : 
" The Egyptian jugglers can per- 
form some feats, which those of 
Europe are not able to imitate. 
They take the most poisonous 
vipers in their naked hands, play 
with them, place them in their 
bosom, and make them perform 
all sorts of tricks. All this 1 have 
often seen. I examined in order 
to see whether the serpents had 
been deprived of their poisonous 
fangs ; and convinced myself, by 
actual observation, that this was 
not the case. On the third of July, 
I received at once, four different 
species of serpents, which I de- 
scribed and preserved in spirits. 
They were brought me by a fe- 
male, who excited the astonish- 
ment of all of us Europeans, by 
the manner in which she handled 
these most poisonous and danger- 
ous animals, without receiving 
the least injury. As she put 
them into the bottle in which I 
intended to preserve them, she 
managed them just as one of our 
ladies would handle their rib- 
ands or lacings. The others 
gave her no difficulty, but the 
vipers did not seem to like their 
intended dwelling ; they slipped 
out, before the bottle could be 
covered. They sprang upon 
and over her hands and naked 



INK 



[153] 



IRO 



arms j but she betrayed no symp- 
tom of fear. She took them 
quite tranquilly from her body, 
and placed them in the vessel 
that was to be their grave. She 
had caught them, as our Arab 
assured us, without difficult}' in 
the fields. Without doubt she 
must possess some secret art or 
skill ; but I could not get her to 
open her mouth upon the subject. 
This art is a secret even among 
the Egyptians. The ancient 
Marsi and Psylli in Africa, who 
daily exhibited specimens of the 
same art in Rome, afford evi- 
dence of its antiquity in Africa j 
and it is a very remarkable cir- 
cumstance, that such a thing 
should remain a secret above 
two thousand years, and be re- 
tained only by a certain class 
of persons." 

INDIA, the appellation which 
the ancients appear to have given 
to that vast region of Asia, 
stretching east of Persia and 
Bactria, as far as the country 
of the Since. ; its northern boun- 
dary being the Scythian desert, 
and its southern limit the ocean. 
The name is generally supposed 
to have been derived from the 
river Indus, which bounds it on 
the west. It is mentioned in 
Scripture only in Esther 1:1. 

INK-HORN. The prophet 
Ezekiel speaks of six men 
clothed in linen, each with a 
writer's ink-horn by his side, 9:2. 
In the East, even at the present 
day, all artisans carry most of 
the implements of their profes- 
sion in the girdle ; the soldier 
carries his sword ; the butcher 
his knife 5 and the carpenter his 
hammer and his saw. So also 
the writers ; and Olearius ob- 
serves of the Persians, that they 
carry about with them, by means 
of their girdles, a dagger, a 
knife, a handkerchief, ana their 



money 3 and those that follow 
the profession of writing out 
books, their ink-horn, their pen- 
knife, their whetstone, to sharpen 
it, their letters, &c." 

INN, see Caravanserai. 

INSPIRATION, in the high- 
est sense, is the immediate com- 
munication of knowledge to the 
human mind by the Spirit of 
God 3 but it is commonly used 
by divines, in a less strict and 
proper sense, to denote such a 
degree of divine influence, as- 
sistance, or guidance, as enabled 
the authors of the Scriptures to 
communicate knowledge to oth- 
ers, without error or mistake, 
whether the subjects of such 
communications were things then 
immediately revealed to those 
who declared them, or things 
with which they were before ac- 
quainted. Hence it is usually 
divided into three kinds, revela- 
tion, suggestion, and superin- 
tendence. 

INTERCESSION, an en- 
treaty used by one person to- 
ward another ; whether this per- 
son solicit on his own account, 
or on account of one for whom 
he is agent. Man intercedes 
with man, sometimes to procure 
an advantage to himself, some- 
times as a mediator to benefit 
another 5 he may be said to in- 
tercede for another, when he puts 
words into the suppliant's mouth, 
and directs and prompts him to 
say what otherwise he would be 
unable to say ; or to say in a 
more persuasive manner what he 
might intend to say. The inter- 
cession of Christ on behalf of 
sinners, Rom. 8:34. 1 John 2:1, 
and the intercession of the Holy 
Spirit, Rom. 8:26, are easily 
illustrated by this adaptation of 
the term. See Comforter. 
IRON. Moses forbids the 
I Hebrews to use any stones to 



ISA 



[154] 



ISA 



form the allar of the Lord, which 
had been in any manner wrought 
with iron ; as it" iron communi- 
cated pollution. He says the 
stones of Palestine are of iron, 
Deut. 8:9, that is, of hardness 
equal to iron 5 or thai, being 
smelted, they yielded iron. "Iron 
sharpeneth iron/' says the wise 
man, " so a man sharpeneth the 
countenance of his friend j" i. e. 
the presence of a friend gives us 
more confidence and assurance. 
God threatens his ungrateful and 
perfidious people wilh making 
the heaven iron, and the earth 
brass ; that is, to make the earth 
barren, and the air to produce no 
rain. Chariots of iron are chari- 
ots armed with iron, with spikes, 
and scythes. See Chariots. 

ISAAC, the son of Abraham 
and father of Jacob and Esau ; 
one of the patriarchs and ances- 
tors of the Hebrew nation. His 
history is contained in Gen. c. 21. 
c. 24— 28. c. 35:27. 

ISAIAH, the son of Amoz, 
(not Amos,) one of the most dis- 
tinguished of the Hebrew proph- 
ets. He began to prophesy at 
Jerusalem, towards the close of 
the reign of Uzziah, about the 
year 759 B. C. and exercised the 
prophetical office under the three 
following monarehs, Jotham, 
Ahaz and Hezekiah; c. 1:1. 
The first twelve chapters of his 
prophecies refer to the times of 
Ahaz ; then follow c. 13—23, di- 
rected against foreign nations, 
except c. 22, against Jerusalem. 
In c. 24 — 35, which would seem 
to belong to the time of Heze- 
kiah, the prophet appears to look 
forward in prophetic vision to 
the times of the exile and of the 
Blessiah. The chapters 36—39 
give an historical account of 
Sennacherib's invasion, and of 
the advice given by Isaiah to 
Hezekiah. This account is 



parallel to that in 2 K. 18:13. 
—20: 19 j and indeed c. 37 of 
Isaiah is almost word for word the 
same with 2 K. c. 19. The re- 
mainder of the book of Isaiah, 
c. 40 — 66, contains a series of 
oracles referring chiefly to the fu- 
ture times of temporal exile and 
deliverance, and expanding at the 
same time into glorious views 
of the spiritual deliverance to be 
wrought by the Messiah. 

Isaiah seems to have lived 
and prophesied wholly at Jeru- 
salem ; and vanishes from his- 
tory after the accounts contain- 
ed in c. 39. A tradition among 
the Talmudists and fathers re- 
lates, that he was sawn asun- 
der during the reign of Manas- 
seh ; and this tradition is em- 
bodied in an apocryphal book, 
called the Ascension of Isaiah ; 
but it seems to rest on no suffi- 
cient grounds. It would seem 
most probable that, in his old 
age, the prophet withdrew him- 
self from the more active scenes 
of life, and passed his retire- 
ment in writing down the splen- 
did visions recorded in the last 
part of his book. 

Some commentators have pro- 
posed to divide the book of 
Isaiah chronologically into three 
parts, as if composed under the 
three kings, Jotham, Ahaz and 
Hezekiah. But this is of very 
doubtful propriety ; since several 
of the chapters are evidently 
transposed and inserted out of 
their chronological order. But 
a very obvious and striking di- 
vision of the book into two parts, 
exists ; the first part, including 
the first thirty-nine chapters, and 
the second, the remainder of the 
book, or c. 49—66. The first 
part is made up of those prophe- 
cies and historical accounts, 
which Isaiah wrote during the 
period of his active exertions 



ISA 



[155] 



ISH 



in behalf of the present, when 
he mingled in the public con- 
cerns of the rulers and the peo- 
ple, and acted as the messenger 
of God to the nation in reference 
to their internal and external ex- 
isting relations. These are sin- 
gle prophecies, published at dif- 
ferent times, and on different 
occasions ; afterwards, indeed, 
brought together into one collec- 
tion, but still marked as distinct 
and single, either by the super- 
scriptions, or in some other ob- 
vious and known method. The 
second part, on the contrary, is 
occupied wholly with the future. 
It was appareutly written in the 
later years of the prophet, when 
he had probably left all active 
exertions in the theocracy to 
his younger associates in the 
prophetical office. He himself 
transferred his contemplations 
from the joyless present, into 
the future. In this part, there- 
fore, which was not, like the 
first, occasioned by external 
circumstances, it is not so easy 
to distinguish in like manner 
between the different single pro- 
phecies. The whole is more 
like a single gush of prophecy. 
The prophecies of the second 
part refer chiefly to a twofold ob- 
ject. The prophet first consoles 
his people by announcing their 
deliverance from the Babylonish 
exile; he names the monarch 
whom Jehovah will send to 
punish the insolence of their 
oppressors, and lead back the 
people to their home. But he 
does not stop at this trifling 
and inferior deliverance. With 
the prospect of freedom from 
the Babylonish exile, the prophet 
connects the prospect of deliver- 
ance from sin and error through 
the Messiah. Soroeumes both 
objects seem closely interwoven 
with each other; sometimes one 



of them appears alone with par- 
ticular clearness and prominen- 
cy. Especially is the view of 
the prophet sometimes so ex- 
clusively directed upon the lat- 
ter object, that, filled with the 
contemplation of the glory of 
the spiritual kingdom of God 
and of its exalted founder, he 
wholly loses sight for a time of 
the less distant future. In the 
description of this spiritual de- 
liverance, also, the relations of 
time are not observed. Some- 
times the prophet beholds the au- 
thor of this deliverance in his hu- 
miliation and sorrows; and again, 
the remotest ages of the Messi- 
ah's kingdom present themselves 
to his enraptured vision ; when 
man, so long estranged from 
God, will have again returned 
to him ; when every thing oppos- 
ed to God shall have been de- 
stroyed, and internal and exter- 
nal peace universally prevail ; 
and when all the evil introduced 
by sin into the world, will be for 
ever done away. Elevated above 
all space and time, the prophet 
contemplates from the height on 
which the Holy Spirit has thus 
placed him, the whole develope- 
ment of the Messiah's kingdom, 
from its smallest beginnings to its 
glorious completion. 

ISHBOSHETH, son of Saul, 
and also his successor. Abner, 
Saul's kinsman, and general, so 
managed, that Ishboshcth was 
acknowledged king at Mahanaim 
by the greater part of Israel, 
while David reigned at Hebron 
over Judah. He was forty-four 
years of age when he began to 
reign, and he reigned two years 
peaceably; after which he had 
skirmishes, with loss, against 
David. 2 Sam. 2:8, &c. Being 
abandoned by Abner, whom he 
had provoked, his cause grew 
more and more feeble > and he 



ISR 



[156] 

2 Sam 



IVO 



was at last assassinated 
c. 4. 

ISCARIOT, see Judas I. 

ISHMAEL, the son of Abra- 
ham by Hagar; and the ances- 
tor of the Ishmaelites, from whom 
are descended the modern Arabs 
of the desert, or Bedouins. His 
history is contained in Gen. c. 
16, and the following-. 

ISLE, ISLAND. The He- 
brew word which is more com- 
monly translated isle, means 
strictly dry land, habitable coun- 
try, in opposition to water, or 
to seas and rivers. So Is. 42 : 15, 
" I will make the rivers dry 
land," not islands, which makes 
no sense. Hence, as opposed to 
water in general, it means land 
adjacent to water, either washed 
or surrounded by it, i. e. mari- 
time country, coast, island. Thus 
it means coast, when used of 
Ashdod, Is. 20:6 j of Tyre, Is. 
23: 2,6 j of Peloponnesus, or 
Greece, Ezek. 27:7, " The isles 
of Elishah." It means island 
when used, e. g. of Caphtor, or 
Crete, Jer. 47 : 4 ; also Jer. 2:10; 
so also Esth. 10:1, where the 
phrase isles of the sea is in an- 
tithesis with the land or continent. 
The plural of this word, usually 
translated islands, was em- 
ployed by the Hebrews to de- 
note distant regions beyond the 
sea, whether coasts or islands 5 
and especially the islands and 
maritime countries of the west, 
which had become indistinctly 
known to the Hebrews, through 
the voyages of the Phoenicians ; 
sols. 24:15. 40:15. 42.4,10,12. 
Ps. 72 : 10. In Ezek. 27 : 15, the 
East Indian Archipelago would 
seem to be intended. 

ISRAEL, (who prevails with 
God,) a name given to Jacob, 
after having wrestled with the 
angel at Mahanaim, or Penuel. 
Gen. 32:1,2,28,29,30. Hosea 



12:3. (See Jacob.) By the 
name Israel, is sometimes under- 
stood the person of Jacob ; 
sometimes the people of Israel, 
the race of Jacob 3 and some- 
times the kingdom of Israel, or 
the ten tribes, as distinct from 
the kingdom of Judah. Hence 
" the children of Israel," or 
the Israelites, as a name of the 
Hebrews or Jews. See He- 
brews, and Judea. 

ITALY is apparently not 
mentioned by name in the O. T. 
though several times in the New. 
The Italian band, mentioned in 
Acts 10:1, was probably a 
Roman cohort from Italy, sta- 
tioned at Caesarea 3 so called to 
distinguish it from the other 
troops, which were drawn from 
Syria and the adjacent regions. 

ITUREA, a region in the 
north-east part of Palestine, 
which, according to Pliny, made 
a part of Ccelesyria. It seems 
to have been the same as the 
ancient Auranitis or modern 
Haouran, lying east or north- 
east of the territory of Manasseh. 
Or it may have been a general 
name, comprehending Auranitis, 
Batanea, <Scc. and covering, per- 
haps, the whole tetrarchy of 
Philip. Luke 3:1. It is not 
mentioned by Josephus among 
the countries given to Philip, 
which he says were Auranitis, 
Trachonitis and Batanea, the 
latter, as it seems, also compre- 
hending Gaulonitis. The Iture- 
ans are said to have been skilful 
archers, and dextrous robbers. 

IVORY is first mentioned in 
the reign of Solomon, unless, in- 
deed, Ps. 45 were written pre- 
vious to his time, in which ivory 
is spoken of, as used in decorat- 
ing palaces. It is probable that 
Solomon, who traded to India, 
first brought thence elephants 
and ivory to Judea. " For the 



JAC 



[157] 



JAC 



king- had at sea a navy of Tar- 
shish, with the navy of Hiram : 
once in three years came the 
navy of Tarshish, bringing- gold, 
and silver, and ivory/' 1 Kings 
10:22. 2 Chr. 9:21. Solomon 
had a throne decorated with 
ivory, and inlaid with gold ; the 
beauty of these materials reliev- 
ing the splendor, and heighten- 
ing the lustre, of each other. 
IK. 10:18. Ivory, as is well 
known, is the substance of the 
tusks of elephants 3 and hence 
it is always called in Hebrew, 
tooth. 

Cabinets and wardrobes were 
ornamented with ivory. These 
were named " houses of ivory;" 
perhaps because made in the 
form of a house or palace ; as 
we have now ivory models of 
the Chinese pagodas or temples. 



In this sense, some understand 
what is said of the ivory house 
which Ahabmade, 1 K. 22:39, 
for the Hebrew word, translated 
house, is used for a place, or 
case, wherein any thing lies, is 
contained, or laid up; so Ez. 
27 : 24 in Heb. As to " dwelling- 
houses," the most we can sup- 
pose in regard to them is, that 
they might have ornaments of 
ivory, as they sometimes have 
of gold, silver or other precious 
materials, in such abundance as 
to derive an appellation from the 
article of their decoration ; as 
the emperor Nero's palace was 
named aurea, or golden, because 
overlaid with gold. This method 
of ornamenting buildings or 
apartments was very ancient 
among the Greeks, and is men- 
tioned by Homer. 



JABESH, a city in the half- 
tribe of Manasseh, east of the 
Jordan, and generally called 
Jabesh Gilead, Decause situated 
at the foot of the mountains so 
named. Eusebius places it six 
miles from Pella, towards Ge- 
rasa. 

JACINTH, the same as hya- 
cinth, i. e. a gem of a yellowish 
red or hyacinth color, nearly re- 
lated to zircon and to the am- 
ethyst. It is described by Pliny 
as bein? of a dark cerulean 
color. Rev. 21:20. 

JACOB, son of Isaac and 
Rebekah, and twin-brother to 
Esau. As at his birth he held 
his brother's heel, he was called 
Jacob, i. e. the heel-holder, one 
who comes behind' and catches 
the heel of his adversary, a de- 
ceiver. Gen. 25:26. This was 
a kind of predictive intimation 
14 



of his future conduct in life. 
Jacob was meek and peaceable, 
living at home ; Esau was more 
turbulent and fierce, and pas- 
sionately fond of hunting. Isaac 
was partial to Esau, Rebekah to 
Jacob. Jacob having taken ad- 
vantage of his brother's necessi- 
ty, to obtain his birthright, and 
of his father's infirmity, to. obtain 
the blessing of primogeniture, 
was compelled to fly into Me- 
sopotamia, to avoid the conse- 
quences of his brother's wrath. 
Gen. c. 27, 28. On his journey 
the Lord appeared to him in a 
dream, promised him his protec- 
tion, and declared his purpose 
relative to his descendants pos- 
sessing the land of Canaan, and 
the descent of the Messiah 
through him. c. 28:10, &c. His 
subsequent history and death, 
alter residing seventeen years in 



JAM 



[158] 



JxlM 



Egypt, are given in the next 
following chapters of Genesis. 
For Jacob's Well, see She- 

CHEM. 

JAEL, wife of Heber the 
Kenite, killed Sisera, general of 
the Canaanitish army, who had 
fled to her tent. Jael took her 
opportunity, and, while he was 
sleeping, drove a large nail or 
tent-pin, through his temples. 
Judg. 4:17,21. Why she thus 
violated the rights of oriental 
hospitality, by slaying a person 
who had fled to her for protec- 
tion, does not directly appear 3 
but we must not judge of this 
wholly by modern principles and 
occidental feelings. We must 
judge of it by the feelings of 
those among whom the right of 
avenging the blood of a relative 
was so strongly rooted, that even 
Moses could not take it away. 
Jael was an ally by blood of the 
Israelitish nation; and probably 
in her case the stronger and pat- 
riotic oriental feeling of revenge, 
overpowered the weaker and 
more private feelings usually 
connected with (he exercise of 
hospitality. At least she is every 
where represented as a heroine, 
who had wrought deliverance to 
the Jewish people. 

JAH, a Hebrew contraction 
for Jehovah. Ps. 68:4. 

JAMBRES, see Jannes. 

I. JAMES, surnamed the great- 
er, or the elder, to distinguish him 
from James the younger, brother 
of John the Evangelist, and son 
of Zebedee and Salome. Matt. 
4:21. 27:56. comp. Mark 15:40. 
James was of Bethsaida in Gali- 
lee, and left nis property to fol- 
low Christ. His mother, Sa- 
lome, was one of those women 
who occasionally attended our 
Saviour in his journeys, and one 
day desired that her two sons 
might be seated at his right and 



left hand in his kingdom. Matt. 
20:21, &c. 

James and John were origi- 
nally fishermen, with Zebedee 
their father. Mark 1 : 19. They 
were witnesses of our Lord's 
transfiguration, Matt. 17: 1,2, and 
when certain Samaritans refused 
to receive him, James and John 
wished for fire from heaven to 
consume them. Luke 9:54. 
For this reason, it is thought, the 
name of Boanerges, or sons of 
thunder, was afterwards given to 
them. After the ascension of 
our Lord, at which James was 
present, he appears to have re- 
mained at Jerusalem, and was 
put to death by Herod, about 
A. D. 42 or 44. Acts 12: 1,2. 

II. JAMES, surnamed the less, 
or younger, was the son of Cle- 
opas (or Alpheus) and Mary, 
sister of the mother of our Lord. 
See Mark 15:40. 16:1. comp. 
John 19:25. He was conse- 
quently cousin-german to Christ, 
and is therefore termed his 
brother, in the wider sense of 
that word. Gal. 1:19. (See 
Brother.) He was surnamed 
the Just, for the admirable holi 
ness and purity of his life. He 
remained at Jerusalem, and was 
one of the chief pillars of the 
church, Josephus relates, that 
through the influence of Ananus, 
the son of Annas, he was put to 
death by stoning, about A. D. 62. 

The Epistle of James was 
written by James the less, just 
before his death, and is ad- 
dressed to the churches and 
Christians in general, or perhaps 
more particularly to Jewish con- 
verts. It is hence called catho- 
lic. (See Catholic and Epis- 
tle.) It has often been regarded 
as teaching a different doctrine 
in respect to faith and works, 
from what Paul teaches in his 
epistle to the Romans. But the 



JAS 



[ 159] 



JEH 



doctrine of the two apostles is at 
bottom the same ; only that Paul 
dwells more on faith as the ori- 
gin of good works ; and James 
dwells more on good works, as 
the consequence of failh. Ac- 
cording to Paul, there can be no 
true faith which does not manifest 
itself in good works at every 
opportunity ; and according to • 
James, there can be no saving 
good works which do not spring 
from true faith. 

JANNES and JAMBRES 
were two of the principal Egyp- 
tian magicians, who withstood 
Moses and Aaron by attempting 
to imitate the miracles which they 
exhibited j see Ex. 7:11, &c. 
As these names are not found in 
the O. T. the apostle probably 
derived them from tradition. 
They are often mentioned in the 
rabbinical books. 2 Tim. 3:8. 

JAPHETH, the enlarger, the 
eldest son of Noah, probably the 
Japetus of the heathen mycolo- 
gists. The descendants of Ja- 
pheth appear to have peopled the 
whole of Europe. 

JASHER, the Book of, i. e. 
the Book of the Upright, or of 
the Excellent, Noble-minded. 
This work is mentioned in Josh. 
10:13, and 2 Sam. 1:18; and 
would seem to have been a col- 
lection of national, historical, 
triumphal, and elegiac songs, 
which was still extant in Hie 
time of David. How long it 
remained extant afterwards is 
unknown. 

JASPER, a precious stone of 
various colors, as purple, cerule- 
an, green, &c. Rev. 4:3. 21:11, 
&c. It sometimes occurs with 
stripes ; and is found in Saxony, 
Bohemia, Hungary, Italy, Scot- 
land, &c. 

JAVAN, the third son of Ja- 
pheth. Gen. 10:2,4. This name 
is the same as the Greek Idn ; 



whence comes Ionia; and it is 
understood that Javan was the 
ancestor of the Greeks. 

JEALOUS Y, see under Adul- 
tery. The idol of jealoustj, 
Ezek. 8:3,5, is the same with 
Thammuz in verse 14. See 
Thammuz. 
JEBUSITES, see Canaan- 

ITES. 

JECONIAH, see Jehoia- 

CHIN. 

I. JEHOAHAZ, son and 

successor of Jehu, king of Israel, 
B. C. 852. reigned seventeen 
years. See2K.c. 13. 

II. JEHOAHAZ, son and 
successor of Josiah king of Ju- 
dah, B. C. 606, reigned about 
three months in Jerusalem. He 
was deposed by the king of 
Egypt. See 2 K. 23:30—32. 
2 Chr. 36 : 1—4. 

JEHOASH, see Joash. 

JEHOIACHIN, son and suc- 
cessor of Jehoiakim, king of 
Judah, B. C. 594, reigned three 
months, and was then carried 
away to Babylon. 2 K. 24:8— 
16. 2 Chr. 36:9,10. He is also 
called Jeconiah, Jer. 27:20, and 
Coniah, 37:1. 

JEHOIAKIM, or Eliakim, 
brother and successor of Jehoa- 
haz king of Judah, and substi- 
tuted for him by the king of 
Egypt, 2 K. 23: 34.— 24:6, B. C. 
606. He reigned eleven years, 
and was then carried to Babylon. 
2 Chr. 36:4— 8. 

JEHORAM. see Joram. 

JEHOSHAPHAT, a pious 
king of Judah, the son and suc- 
cessor of Asa. He began to reign 
at the age of thirty-five, about 
the year 929 B. C. and reigned 
twenty-five vears. His history 
is found in 1 K. 15:24. 22:2, 
&c. and 2 Chr. c. 17—20. 

The Valley of Jehoshaphat was 
the narrow glen which runs north 
and south between Jerusalem 



JEH 



[ 160] 



JER 



and the mount of Olives, through 
which flows the Kidron. The 
name seems to be applied more 
particularly to the southern part 
of it, below the city. See Jeru- 
salem. 

JEHOVAH, the ineffable 
name of God among- the He- 
brews. The Jews never pro- 
nounced this name ; and wherev- 
er it occurs in the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures, they substituted for it the 
word God or Lord. In the 
Hebrew Bibles it is always writ- 
ten with the vowels of one of 
these words ; so that the original 
pronunciation and signification 
of it are lost. The most proba- 
ble meaning, however, appears 
to be referred to in Ex. 3: 14, / 
am that I am, or better, / will be 
what I am, as expressing the im- 
mutability of God, and his fidelity 
to his promises. It is thus that 
in Ex. 6 : 3, God says he was not 
known to the patriarchs by his 
name Jehovah, \. e. not in the full 
extent and meaning of that name, 
as fulfilling his covenant with 
tnevn ; for the mere name itself 
appears long before ; as Gen. 
2:4, &c. and as used by Isaac, 
Gen. 27:27. It should be re- 
membered, that our English ver- 
sion has almost always given 
this name by the word Lord, 
printed in small capitals. 

Jehovah Jireh, i. e. Je- 
hovah will provide, the name 
given by Abraham to the place 
where he had been on the point 
of slaying his son Isaac. Gen. 
22:14. He gave this name in 
allusion to his answer to Isaac's 
question in verse 8, that God 
would provide a victim for the 
sacrifice. 

Jehovah Nissi means Jeho- 
vah my Banner. Ex. 17 : 15. 

Jehovah Shalom, i. e. Je- 
hovah of Peace or Prosperity, 
the name given by Gideon to 



an altar which he built in the 
place where an angel of Jeho- 
vah had appeared to him, and 
saluted him by saying, " Peace 
be unto thee." Judg. 6 :24. 

JEHU, the son of Nimshi, a 
general of the army of Joram, 
slew his master and usurped the 
throne of Israel, B. C. 880. He 
reigned twenty-eight years. See 
his history in 1 K. 19:16,17. 
2 K. c. 9 and 10. 

JEPHTHAH, the son of Gil- 
ead, was a judge of Israel, and 
successor to Jair. His history is 
told in Judg. c. 11 and 12. A 
most affecting incident in it is his 
devoting his daughter to God as 
a sacrifice for death or for life, 
in consequence of a rash vow. 
From this incident the story of 
Iphigenia, the daughter of Aga- 
memnon, is perhaps borrowed. 
Paul numbers Jephthah among 
the saints of the O. T. distin- 
guished for their faith. Heb. 
11:32. 

JEREMIAH, one of the chief 
prophets of the O. T. prophesied 
under Josiah, Jehoiakim, and 
Zedekiah, and also after the car- 
rying away of the latter. He 
was of the race of the priests, 
and was destined of God to be 
a prophet, and consecrated for 
that object before his birth. Jer. 
1:1,5. He was carried by the 
remnant of the people with them 
to Egypt, c. 43, where he is sup- 
posed to have died. The last 
chapter of the book of Jeremiah 
appears to have been added as a 
supplement by a later hand ; it 
is taken almost verbatim from 
2 K. 24 : 18—20, and c. 25. Jer- 
emiah wrote also the book of 
Lamentations, in which he utters 
the most plaintive and pathetic 
sentiments over the calamities 
of his people. 

JERICHO, a city of Benja- 
min, about twenty miles east- 



JER 



[161 ] 



JER 



north-east of Jerusalem, and four 
miles from the Jordan. It was 
the first city in Canaan taken by 
Joshua, who totally destroyed it, 
and pronounced a curse upon 
the person who should ever re- 
build it ; which was afterwards 
fulfilled on Hiel. Josh. 6:26. 
1 K. 16:34. Jericho was also 
called tlie city of palm-trees; 
and became afterwards flounsh- 
"ing- and second In importance 
only to Jerusalem. It has now 
sunk into a miserable village, 
which appears to be situated 
some distance nearer the Jordan 
than the ancient city. The fol- 
lowing account is from Bucking- 
ham's Travels. 

" This very ancient city is 
now desolate, and consists of 
only about fifty poor houses in 
bad condition, wherein the labor- 
ers who cultivate the gardens 
shelter themselves. The plain 
around is extremely fertile j the 
soil is middling fat; but it is 
watered by several rivulets, 
which flow into the Jordan. 
Notwithstanding these advan- 
tages, only the gardens adjacent 
to the town are cultivated. We 
visited the fountain of the proph- 
et Elisha, which, for many ages, 
has furnished water for the gar- 
dens ; it was formerly bitter, but 
was healed by that prophet. 
The head of this water is en- 
closed in a basin of a triangular 
shape, of which each side is 
about three fathoms in length. 
Tt is lined with wrought stone, 
and is even paved in parts. 
There are two niches in one 
of its sides, which is higher 
than the others, and an orifice by 
which the water issues, in a 
stream sufficient to turn a mill. 
It is said that several sources 
discharge themselves into the 
game basin ; but their depth pre- 
vents th.m from being explored." 
14* 



Maundrell calls Jericho " a poor, 
nasty village of the Arabs." 

The Plain of Jericho, in which 
the city lay, extends from Scy- 
thopolis to the bay of the Dead 
sea, and is overhung on all sides 
by ridges of barren and rugged 
mountains. The road from the 
city to Jerusalem is through a 
series of rocky defiles, and the 
surrounding scenery is of the 
most gloomy and forbidding as- 
pect. " The whole of this road," 
says Mr. Buckingham, " is held 
to be the most dangerous in Pal- 
estine ; and, indeed, the very 
aspect of the scenery is suf- 
ficient, on the one hand, to tempt 
to robbery and murder, and, on 
the other, to occasion a dread of 
it in those who pass that way. 
The bold projecting mass of 
rocks, the dark shadows in which 
ever}' thing lies buried below, 
the towering height of the cliffs 
above, and the forbidding deso- 
lation which every where reigns 
around, present a picture that is 
quite in harmony throughout all 
its parts. With what propriety 
did our Saviour choose this spot 
as the scene of that delightful 
tale of compassion recorded by 
St. Luke. 10:30—34." 

I. JEROBOAM, the first king 
of Israel, " who made Israel to 
sin." He projected and accom- 
plished the revolt of the ten 
tribes from Rehoboam, B. C, 
971, and reigned as king twenty- 
two years. See his history in 1 K. 
c. 12—14:20. 2Chr. c. 10, c. 13. 

II. JEROBOAM Second, the 
thirteenth king of Israel, son 
and successor of Jehoash, B. C. 
819, reigned forty-one years. 
See2K. 14:23—29. 

JERUSALEM, the celebrated 
metropolis of Palestine 5 called 
by the Turks Koudsemharich, or 
Koudsherif, and by the Arabs 
usually El KJiods, i. e. the Holy. 



JER 



[162] 



JER 



It is situated near the centre of 
the country, among the moun- 
tains, about thirty-seven miles 
from the Mediterranean, and 
about twenty-three from the Jor- 
dan. It was on the border of the 
tribes of Benjamin and Judah, 
mostly within the limits of the 
former, but reckoned as belong- 
ing to the latter, because con- 
quered by it. The most ancient 
name of the city was Salem, 
Gen. 14:18. Ps. 76:2; and it 
afterwards was called Jehus, as 
belonging to the Jebusites, Judg. 
19:10,11. Being a very strong 
position, it resisted many at- 
tempts of the Israelites to subdue 
it, until at length it was reduced 
by David, 2 Sam. 5:6,9; after 
which it received its present 
name, and was also called the 
city of David. Jerusalem, after 
its destruction by the Chaldeans, 
was rebuilt by the Jews on their 
return from captivity, about the 
year 536 B. C. They exerted 
themselves much, in order to 
restore it to its former splendor, 
and Herod the Great afterwards 
expended vast sums in its em- 
bellishment. It was at last taken 
by Titus, and totally destroyed, 
A. D. 72. Still, as the Jews 
continued to return thither, and 
manifested a rebellious spirit, the 
emperor Adrian planted a Roman 
colony there in A. D. 134, and 
banished the Jews, prohibiting 
their return on pain of death. He 
changed the name of the city to 
JElia Capitolina, and conse- 
crated it to heathen deities, in 
order to defile it as much as pos- 
sible ; and did what he could to 
obliterate all traces both of Juda- 
ism and Christianity. From this 
period the name JElia became 
so common, that the name Jeru- 
salem was preserved only among 
the Jews and better informed 
Christians. In the time of Con- 



stantine, however, it resumed its 
ancient name, which it has re- 
tained to the present day. 
Helena, the mother of Constan- 
tine, built many churches in Ju- 
dea and in Jerusalem, about A. 
D. 326; and Julian, who, after 
his father, succeeded to the em- 
pire of his uncle Constantine, en- 
deavored to rebuild the temple ; 
but his design (and that of the 
Jews, whom he patronized) was 
frustrated, A. D. 363. 

The subsequent history of Je- 
rusalem may be told in a few 
words. In A. D. 613, it was 
taken by Cosrhoes, king of the 
Persians, who slew 90,000 of the 
inhabitants, and demolished, ,to 
the utmost of his power, whatever 
the Christians had venerated : 
A. D. 627, Heraclius defeated 
Cosrhoes, and Jerusalem was re- 
covered by the Greeks : nine 
years afterwards, it was taken 
from the Christians by the caliph 
Omar, after a siege of four 
months, and continued under the 
caliphs of Bagdad till A. D. 868, 
when it was taken by Ahmed, a 
Turkish sovereign of Egypt. 
During the space of 220 years, it 
was subject to several masters, 
Turkish and Saracenic, and in 
1099 it was taken by the crusaders 
under Godfrey Bouillon, who was 
elected king. He was succeeded 
by his brother Baldwin, who died 
1118. In A. D. 1188, Saladin, 
sultan of the East, captured the 
city, assisted by the treachery of 
Raymond, count of Tripoli, who 
was found dead in his bed, on the 
morning of the day in which he 
was to have delivered up the city. 
It was restored, in 1242, to the 
Latin princes, by Saleh Ismael, 
emir of Damascus; they lost it 
in 1291 to the sultans of Egypt, 
who held it till 1382. Selim, the 
Turkish sultan, reduced Egypt 
and Syria, including Jerusalem, 



JER 



[163] 



JER 



in 1517, and his son Solyman 
built the present walls in 1534. 
It still continues under the Turk- 
ish dominion, " trodden down of 
the Gentiles." 

Jerusalem is situated on ground 
which slopes downward towards 
the east, the slope being- termi- 
nated by an abrupt declivity, 
which in some parts is precipitous, 
and overhanging- the valley of 
Jehoshaphat or of the Kidron. 
This sloping ground is terminated 
on the south by the deep and 
narrow valley of Hinnom, which 
constituted the ancient southern 
boundary of the city. But in the 
city itself, there were also two 
ravines or smaller valleys, running 
down into the valley of the Kid- 
ron ; thus dividing the sloping 
site of the city into three principal 
parts or hills. The hill on the 
south was called Sion, between 
the valley of Hinnom and the ra- 
vine in which the pool of Siloam 
is situated ; this hill was the high- 
est, and contained the citadel, the 
king's palace, and anciently the 
upper city; but it is not contained 
within the walls of the modern 
city. The next hill towards the 
north, or rather north-east, was 
Moriah, a smaller eminence, on 
which stood the temple, over- 
looking the valley below, and 
anciently joined to Sion by a 
bridge ; here now stands the 
mosque of Omar. North of Sion 
and north-west of Moriah was a 
lower hill, called, by Josephus, 
Acra, on which lay the lower city, 
which was the most considerable 
portion of Jerusalem. Calvary 
lppears to have lain without the 
ancient city, towards the north- 
west ; but the modern city en- 
closes it within its walls. On the 
east of Jerusalem, and stretching 
from north to south, lies the mount 
of Olives, divided from the city 
by the valley of the Kidron, and 



commanding a noble prospect of 
the city and surrounding country. 
Just below the city, opposite to 
where the valley of Hinnom 
meets that of the Kidron, lies the 
miserable village of Siloaj and 
from this spot the united valley 
more properly takes the name of 
Jehoshaphat, and winds among 
the mountains southward and 
eastward to the Dead sea. In 
the ravine between Moriah and 
Sion is the pool of Siloam. It is 
an excavation to which one de- 
scends by twenty steps ; the 
waters flow from under the hill 
Sion ; and then, after passing 
again under ground for two or 
three hundred feet, they reappear 
on the other (southern) side of the 
projecting hill, and are drawn off 
to irrigate gardens and small fields 
reaching from this point of the ac- 
clivity down to the dell beneath, 
where the Kidron and the valley 
of Hinnom unite. (See Siloam.) 
Over against Moriah, or a little 
farther north, lies the garden of 
Gelhsemane, with its olive-trees, 
at the foot of the mount of Ol- 
ives. 

The modern city of Jerusalem 
is indeed "trodden down." It 
bears the name and occupies the 
site of the ancient city of David ; 
but in all other respects it pre- 
sents nothing but the most striking 
contrasts with its former splen- 
dor. Dr. Jowett says, "Like 
many other cities of the East, the 
distant view of Jerusalem is in- 
expressibly beautiful ; but the 
distant view is all. On entering 
at the Damascus gate, meanness, 
and filth, and misery, not ex- 
ceeded, if equalled, by any thing 
which I had before seen, soon 
told the tale of degradation." 

Christians of almost every 
name, as well as Jews and 3Io- 
hammedans, have their abode, 
their churches and their convents 



JER 



[ 164] 



JER 



at Jerusalem. The following 
estimate of the present population 
was made by Messrs. Fisk and 
King, in 1823:— 



Mussulmans, 


. 10,000 


Jews, . . . . 


. 6,000 


Greeks, . . . 


. 2,000 


Catholics, . . 


. 1,500 


Armenians, . . 


500 



Total, 20,000 

Dr. Jowett thinks that this es- 
timate is too high, and that 
15,000 would also be too high. 
He is disposed to fix it at about 
12,000, exclusive of the pilgrims. 

The following description of 
the modern city, as it appears 
from the mount of Olives, is given 
by Mr. Buckingham : — 

" Reposing beneath the shade 
of an olive-tree upon the brow of 
the mount of Olives, we enjoyed 
hence a fine prospect of Jerusa- 
lem on the opposite one. This 
city occupies an irregular square 
of about two miles and a half in 
circumference. Its shortest ap- 
parent side is that which faces 
the east, and in this is the sup- 
posed gate of the ancient temple, 
now closed up, and the small 
projecting stone on which Mo- 
hammed is to sit, when the world 
is to be assembled to judgment 
in the vale below. The southern 
side is exceedingly irregular, 
taking quite a zigzag direction ; 
the south-west extreme being ter- 
minated by the mosque built over 
the supposed sepulchre of David, 
on the summit of mount Sion. 
The form and exact direction of 
the western and southern walls 
are not distinctly seen from 
Iwnce ; but every part of this 
appears to be a modern work, 
and executed at the same time. 
The walls are flanked at irregular 
distances by square towers, and 
have battlements running all 



around on their summits, with 
loop-holes for arrows or musketry 
close to the top. The walls ap- 
pear to be about fifty feet in 
height, but are not surrounded by 
a ditch. The northern wall runs 
over slightly declining ground} 
the eastern wall runs straight 
along the brow of mount Moriah, 
with the deep valley of Jehosha- 
phat below; the southern wall 
runs over the summit of the hill 
assumed as mount Sion, with the 
vale of Hinnom at its feet ; and 
the western wall runs along on 
more level ground, near the sum- 
mit of the high and stony moun- 
tains over which we had first 
approached the town. As the 
city is thus seated on the brow 
of one large hill, divided by name 
into several smaller hills, and the 
whole of these slope gently down 
towards the east, this view, from 
the mount of Olives, a position 
of greater height than that on 
which the highest part of the city 
stands, commands nearly the 
whole of it at once. 

" On the north, it is bounded 
by a level and apparently fertile 
space, now covered with olive- 
trees, particularly near the north- 
east angle. On the south, the 
steep side of mount Sion, and the 
valley of Hinnom, both show 
patches of cultivation and little 
garden enclosures. On the west, 
the sterile summits of the hills 
there barely lift their outlines 
above the dwellings. And, on 
the east, the deep valley of Je- 
hoshaphat, now at our feet, has 
some partial spots relieved by 
trees, though as forbidding in its 

feneral aspect as the vale of 
eath could ever be desired to 
be, by those who have chosen it 
for the place of their interment. 

" Within the walls of the city 
are seen crowded dwellings, re- 
markable in no respect, except 



JER 



I 165 ] 



JES 



being terraced by flat roofs, 
and generally built of stone. On 
the south are some gardens and 
vineyards, with the long red 
mosque of Al Sakhara, having 
two tiers of windows, a sloping 
roof and a dark dome at one end, 
and the mosque of Sion and the 
sepulchre of David in the same 
quarter. On the west is seen the 
high, square castle and palace of 
the same monarch, near the Beth- 
lehem gate. In the centre rise 
two cupolas of unequal form and 
size, the one blue and the other 
white, covering the church of 
the Hoi} 7 Sepulchre. Around, in 
different directions, are seen the 
minarets of eight or ten mosques, 
amid an assemblage of about 
two thousand dwellings. And on 
the east is seated the great 
mosque of Al Harrem, or, as 
called by Christians, the mosque 
of Solomon, from being supposed, 
with that of Al Sakhara near it, 
to occupy the site of the ancient 
temple of that splendid and luxu- 
rious king." 

The present degraded state of 
Jerusalem presents such a mourn- 
ful contrast with her ancient 
magnificence and grandeur as the 
seat of the chief worship of the 
Most High, that, to the heart of a 
Christian who visits the city, the 
feelings of pain must be predom- 
inant. When Dr. Jowett was 
leaving Jerusalem, on the top of 
a hill where he had a last view of 
the city, he turned his horse's 
head, and bade it farewell. He 
writes thus : " The noon-day sun 
shines bright upon the city, and 
seems to mock its base condition. 
What a contrast between its 
aspect at this distance, and its 
actual state ! Here, the smaller 
objects not being discernible, the 
glowing strains of David seem as 
true and lively as when they were 
first uttered — Beautiful for situ- 



ation, the joy of the whole earth 
is mount Zion. Still there seem 
to be her towers, her bulwarks 
and her palaces, challenging our 
admiration. But I have now had 
occasion to know that these are 
not the towers or the temple of 
ancient times. At every step, 
coming forth from the city, the 
heart is reminded of that proph- 
ecy, accomplished to the letter, 
Jerusalem shall be trodden doivn 
of the Gentiles. All the streets 
are wretchedness ; and the 
houses of the Jews especially, 
the people who once held a 
sceptre on this mountain of holi- 
ness, are as dunghills!" 

The New Jerusalem is put as 
the emblem of the Christian re- 
ligion. The ancient city was the 
seat and representative of the 
Jewish religion ; and as Chris- 
tianity is built upon the former 
covenant, so in like manner its 
spread, and prevalence, and wor- 
ship are symbolically represented 
under the figure of a new city, a 
new Jerusalem. 

JESUS CHRIST, the son of 
God, the Messiah and Saviour of 
the world, the first and principal 
object of the prophecies ; who 
was prefigured and promised in 
the O. T. ; was expected and de- 
sired by the patriarchs ; the hope 
and salvation of the Gentiles ; 
the glory, happiness and conso- 
lation of Christians. The name 
Jesus, or, as the Hebrews pro- 
nounce it, Jehoshuah or Joshua, 
signifies, he who shall save. No 
one ever bore this name with so 
much justice, nor so perfectly 
fulfilled the signification of it, as 
Jesus Christ, who saves from sin 
and hell, and has merited heaven 
for us by the price of his blood. 
See Christ. 

Jesus, being the Greek name 
for Joshua, is put for Joshua in 
Acts 7:45. Heb. 4:8. 



J OB 



I 166] 



JOE 



JEWS, the name borne oy the 
Hebrews, among foreign nations, 
especially after I he return from 
Babylon, from Judah, their an- 
cestor. See Hebrews. 

JEZREEL, a celebrated city 
of Issachar, Josh. 19 : 18, in the 
great plain, lying- westward of 
Scythopolis. Ahab had here a 
palace ; and this city became fa- 
mous on account of his seizure 
of Naboth's vineyard, and the 
vengeance executed on Ahab. 
2 K. 9 : 10, &c. Hence the plain 
was sometimes called the Plain 
or Valleij of Jezreel. See Es- 

DRAELON. 

JOAB, son of Zeruiah, David's 
sister, and brother of Abishai 
and Asahel, was one of the most 
valiant soldiers and greatest gen- 
erals in David's time ; but he 
was also one of the most cruel, 
revengeful and imperious of 
men. He was commander in 
chief of his troops, when David 
was king of Judah only, and was 
always firm to his interests. He 
was at last slain, by order of 
Solomon. 1 K. 2:28, &c. 

I. JOASH, or Jehoash, son of 
Ahaziah, king of Judah, was pre- 
served from Athaliah, and hidden 
in the temple by his aunt. After 
an interregnum of six years, he 
was proclaimed king, B. C. 874, 
and reigned forty years. See 2 
K. c. 11,12. 2 Chr. 22:10.— c. 24. 

II. JO ASH, or Jehoash, son 
and successor of Jehoahaz, king 
of Israel, B. C. 835. He reigned 
sixteen years. See 2 K. 13:10. 
—14:16. 

JOB, an ancient patriarch of 
the land of Uz, probably East 
Edom, or the northern part of 
Arabia Deserta, between Baby- 
lonia and Palestine or Idumea. 
He was distinguished for his pa- 
tience, his probity, his submis- 
sion and devotion to God under 
Ihe severest adversity. 



The Book of Job is written in 
Hebrew poetry, except the two 
first chapters and part of the last, 
which are prose. The age in 
which it was written is very un- 
certain, as well as the author. 
Some suppose it to have been 
written by Moses ; others regard 
it as much later. There is not 
in all antiquity a piece of poetry 
more copious, more lofty, more 
magnificent, more diversified, 
more adorned, or more affecting. 
The author has practised all the 
beauties of his art, in the charac- 
ters of the four persons whom he 
brings upon the stage. The his- 
tory, as to the substance of it, is 
true 5 the sentiments, reasons 
and arguments of the several 
persons are faithfully expressed ; 
but the terms and turns of ex- 
pression are the poet's own. 

JOEL, one of the minor proph- 
ets. Of the circumstances of his 
life, and of the time in which he 
lived and prophesied, the Scrip- 
tures afford us no account what- 
ever 5 except what may be inferred 
from different hints and circum- 
stances contained in the book it- 
self. From these it is clear, first, 
that he lived in the kingdom of 
Judah, at a time when the tem- 
ple and the temple-worship still 
existed. Comp. c. 1:14. 2:1,15, 
32. 3:1, &c. He must, in all 
probability, have prophesied 
somewhat early in the reign of 
Uzziah, and rather before Amos. 

The whole book is made up 
of one oracle. The occasion of 
the prophecy was the devasta- 
tion caused by swarms of locusts, 
one of the most terrible of all the 
plagues of the East. (See Lo- 
cust.) Such a plague, accom- 
panied with drought, the prophet 
vividly describes in c. 1, and 
subjoins warnings and admoni- 
tions. He admonishes to fasting 
and penitence j and promises 



JOH 



[167] 



JOH 



the removal of the calamity 
and renewed fertility. 2:21, 
&c. While describing this re- 
turning plenty and prosperity, 
the prophet casts his view for- 
ward on a future still more re- 
mote, and predicts the outpour- 
ings of the Holy Spirit, and the 
signs, and wonders, and spiritual 
prosperity of the Messiah's reign. 
2:28. This passage is quoted 
by the apostle Peter, in Acts 2 : 
16. The style and manner of 
Joel are exceedingly poetical 
and elegant. In short, this book 
belongs among the most splendid 
exhibitions of Hebrew poetry. 

I. JOHN the Baptist, the 
forerunner of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and son of Zacharias and 
Elisabeth, was born about six 
months before Jesus Christ. His 
birth, name and office were 
foretold to his father Zacharias, 
•when he was performing his func- 
tions as a priest in the temple of 
Jerusalem. Luke 1:10.11, &c. 
He baptized unto repentance, 
but not in the name of Christ ; 
and was at length put to death 
by order of Herod, at the insti- 
gation of Herodias, whose licen- 
tiousness he had the boldness to 
reprove. See under Herod 2. 

II. JOHN the Evangelist, 
son of Zebedee, was a native 
of Belhsaida in Galilee, and by 
trade a fisherman. Our Saviour 
called him and his brother James, 
Boanerges, sons of thunder. (See 
James.) It is supposed that John 
was the youngest of the apostles. 
Our Saviour had a particular 
friendship for him, and he de- 
scribes himself by the phrase 
of " that disciple whom Jesus 
loved." He was present at the 
transfiguration, and at the last sup- 
per, when he lay on his master's 
bosom, who discovered to him 
who should betray him. John 
13:23. 21:20. Jesus also chose 



James and John, with Peter, as 
witnesses of his agony in the olive- 
garden. After the ascension of 
our Lord, John continued to re- 
side at Jerusalem, where he was 
one of the chief pillars of the 
church. He afterwards seems 
to have travelled in Asia Minor ; 
and was banished, probably by 
Domitian, to the isle of Patmos, 
where he bad the visions describ- 
ed in the Apocalypse. He af- 
terwards returned to Ephesus, 
where he lived to a very great 
age, so that he could scarcely go 
to the assembly of the church, 
without being carried by his dis- 
ciples. Being now unable to 
make long discourses, his cus- 
tom was to say, in all assemblies, 
to the people, " My dear chil- 
dren, love one another." At 
length they grew weary of this 
concise exhortation ; and when 
he was informed of this, his an- 
swer was, "This is what the Lord 
commands you ; and this, if you 
do it, is sufficient." He died at 
Ephesus, in the third year of 
Trajan, the 100th of Jesus Christ, 
being then, according to Epipha- 
nius, ninety-four years of age. 
He was buried near that city j 
and several of the fathers mention 
his sepulchre as being there. 

We have three Epistles of 
John. The first is a kind of 
tract, designed to refute certain 
erroneous doctrines, which had 
been propounded in the church, 
similar to, if not the same with, 
those of the Cerinthians and the 
Gnostics. The second is ad- 
dressed to a lady of 'ank, named 
Electa, and called in our trans- 
lation the elect lady ; or, as oth- 
ers think, to a Christian church. 
The third letter is directed to 
Gaius,whom John praises for his 
hospitality to the faithful, and ex- 
horts to continue his pious prac 
tice. 



JON 



[168] 



JOP 



HI. JOHN, surnamed Mark, 
cousin to Barnabas, and his dis- 
ciple, was the son of a Christian 
woman named Mary, who had a 
house in Jerusalem, where the 
disciples and apostles met. Here 
they were at prayers in the night, 
when Peter, who was delivered 
out of prison by an angel, knock- 
ed at the door. Acts 12: 12, &c. 
John attached himself to Paul 
and Barnabas, whom he followed 
to Antioch, and thence to Perga 
and Pamphylia, where he left 
them, and returned to Jerusalem. 
Acts 15:38. Six years after- 
wards, he accompanied Barna- 
bas to the isle of Cyprus ; and, 
in A. D. 63, we find him at Rome, 
performing signal services for 
Paul during his imprisonment. 
The apostle speaks advantage- 
ously of him, in Col. 4:10, and 
again in his Epistle to Philemon, 
ver. 24. Two years afterwards, 
he was in Asia, and with Timo- 
thy, whom Paul desires to bring 
him to Rome ; adding, that he 
was useful to him for the minis- 
try of the gospel. 2 Tim. 4:11. 
It was he who wrote the Gospel 
according to Mark. See Gos- 
pel, and also Mark. 

JONAH, one of the minor 
prophets, was a Galilean. Be- 
ing ordered of God to prophesy 
against Nineveh, he endeavored 
to avoid the command by em- 
barking at Joppa for Tarshish, 
in order to fly as far as possible 
just in the opposite direction. 
But being overtaken by a storm, 
he was thrown overboard, and 
miraculously preserved, by be- 
ing swallowed by a large fish. 
This fish, in the N. T. is called a 
whale in our translation, Matt. 
12:40; but it more probably re- 
fers to the large shark, common 
in the Mediterranean, the canis 
carcharius of naturalists, whose 
size and habits corresoond en- 



tirely to the representation giv- 
en of Jonah's being swallowed. 
The fish afterwards cast him out 
again upon the land. The word 
of the Lord a second time direct- 
ed him to visit Nineveh. He 
now went thither; but because the 
Lord had mercy on the penitent 
Ninevites, and did not fulfil Jo- 
nah's prediction, the prophet was 
angry. By the example of a 
gourd, or rather palma christi, 
God taught him his unreasona- 
bleness and folly. See under 
Gourd. 

Besides the history in the book 
of Jonah, this prophet is mention- 
ed in 2K. 14:25; and also by 
our Saviour, Matt. 12:41. Luke 
11:29,30,32. 

JOPPA, or Jaffa, is one of 
the most ancient seaports in the 
world. It was a border town of 
the tribe of Dan, and is situated 
in a fine plain, on the coast of 
the Mediterranean sea, thirty 
miles south of Cassarea, and 
about forty-five north-west of Je- 
rusalem. It owes all the circum- 
stances of its celebrity, as the 
principal port of Judea, to its 
situation with regard to Jerusa- 
lem. As a station for vessels, its 
harbor is one of the worst on the 
coast. 

The present town of Jaffa is 
situated on a promontory, jutting 
out into the sea, rising to the 
height of about 150 feet above 
its level, and offering, on all sides, 
picturesque and varied prospects. 
Towards the west is extended the 
open sea ; towards the south are 
spread fertile plains, reaching as 
far as Gaza ; towards the north, 
as far as Carmel, the flowery 
meads of Sharon present them- 
selves ; and to the east, the hills 
of Ephraim and Judah raise their 
towering heads. The town is 
walled round on the south and 
east, towards the land, and par- 






JOR 



[169] 



JOR 



tially so on the north and west, 
towards the sea. The approach 
to Jaffa is quite destitute of in- 
terest. The town, seated on a 
promontory, and facing chiefly to 
the northward, looks like a heap 
of building's, crowded as closely 
as possible into a given space ; 
and, from the steepness of its 
site, they appear in some places 
to stand one on the other. The 
interior of the town corresponds 
with its outward mien, and has 
all the appearance of a poor vil- 
lage. The streets are very nar- 
row, uneven and dirty ; and are 
rather entitled to the appellation 
of alleys. The inhabitants are es- 
timated at between four and five 
thousand, of whom the greater 
part are Turks and Arabs ; the 
Christians are stated to be about 
six hundred, consisting of Roman 
Catholics, Greeks, Maronites and 
Armenians. The Latins, Greeks 
and Armenians have each a small 
convent for the reception of pil- 
grims. 

I. JORAM, or Jehoram, son 
of Ahab king of Israel, succeed- 
ed his brother Ahaziah in the 
throne, B. C. 892, and reigned 
twelve years. See 2 K. 1 : 17. 
c. 3. c. 6.— c. 9. 

II. JORAM, or Jehoram, son 
and successor of Jehoshaphat 
king of Judah. He reigned with 
his father, from B. C. 889, four 
years, and four years alone, in 
all eight vears. See 2 K. 8 : 16 
—24. 2Chr. c.21. 

JORDAN, the chief river of 
Palestine, running from north to 
south, and* constituting the east- 
ern boundary of Palestine proper. 
According to Burckhardt, it rises 
about four miles north-east from 
Paneas, in the plain ; and is soon 
after joined by the river of Pa- 
neas. (See Day.) TheJordan is 
but an inconsiderable stream, till, 
after receiving several rivulets, 
5 15 



and after running two or three 
leagues, by the nature of the coun- 
try, it forms what is now called the 
marsh of Jordan, anciently lake 
Merom, which extends about two 
leagues in circumference, when 
the snows melt on mount Liba- 
nus, but is dry in the heats of 
summer. (See Merom.) This 
marsh is almost wholly over- 
grown with reeds, of that kind 
which is used for writing, and 
for the fledging of arrows. The 
environs of the lake are full of 
tigers, bears, and even lions, 
which descend from the neigh- 
boring mountains. Coming out 
of this lake, the Jordan resumes 
its course southwards, and, at 
half a league's distance, is cross- 
ed by a stone bridge, which the 
inhabitants call Djisr Beni Ya- 
koub, or bridge of the sons of 
Jakob. (See Geshur.) After a 
course of eight or nine leagues, 
the river enters the lake of Gen- 
nesareth, or the sea of Galilee, or 
of Tiberias. Having passed 
through this lake, it issues near 
the ruins of Scythopolis, and af- 
ter about thirty leagues, loses it- 
self in the Dead sea. 

The distance between the lake 
of Tiberias and the Dead sea is 
what is properly called the Plain 
or Valley of Jordan. It is thus 
described by Burckhardt : " The 
valley of the Jordan, or El Ghor, 
which may be said to begin at 
the northern extremity of the 
lake of Tiberias, has, near By 
san, a direction north by east 
and south by west. Its breadth 
is about two hours. The great 
number of rivulets which de- 
scend from the mountains on both 
sides, and form numerous pools 
of stagnant waters, produce, in 
many places, a pleasing verdure, 
and a luxuriant growth of wild 
herbage and grass ; but the great- 
er part of the ground is a parch- 



JOR 



[170] 



JOR 



ed desert, of which a few spots 
only are cultivated by the Be- 
douins. The river Jordan, on 
issuing from the lake of Tibe- 
rias, flows for about three hours 
near the western hills, and then 
turns toward the eastern, on 
which side it continues its course 
for several hours. The river 
flows in a valley of about a quar- 
ter of an hour in breadth, which 
is considerably lower than the 
rest of the plain of the Ghor : 
this low valley is covered with 
high trees of a luxuriant verdure, 
which afford a striking contrast 
with the sandy slopes that bor- 
der it on both sides. The river, 
where we passed it, was about 
eighty paces broad, and about 
three feet deep : this, it must be 
recollected, was in the midst of 
summer. In the winter it inun- 
dates the plain in the bottom of 
the narrow valley ; but never 
rises to the level of the upper 

Elain of the Ghor, which is at 
:ast forty feet above the level 
of the river." The high trees in 
this lower valley are interwoven 
with close thickets, the retreat 
of wild beasts, which of course 
would be driven out by the inun- 
dations of the river. Hence the 
figure of " the lion coming up 
from the swelling of Jordan." 
Jer. 49 : 19. 50:44. 

At the present day, the Jordan is 
lost in the Dead sea ; but the dis- 
coveries of Burckhardt and other 
modern travellers compel us to be- 
lieve, that in very ancient times, 
before the destruction of the cities 
in the vale of Sodom, and the 
conversion of that plain into a 
sea, the Jordan continued to pur- 
sue its course southwards to the 
Elanitic gulf of the Red sea. 
The southern end of the Dead 
sea is found to be connected with 
the northern end of the Elanitic 
gulf, or gulf of Akaba, by the 



great valley, called towards the 
north, El Ghor, and towards ihe 
south, El Araba, and forming a 
prolongation of the valley of the 
Jordan, through which, in all 
probability, that river once poured 
its waters into the Red sea. The 
course of this valley is between 
south and south-south-west. Its 
length from the Dead sea, in 
about lat. 31° 5', to Akaba in lat. 
29° 30', is, therefore, not far from 
95 minutes of latitude, or about 
110 miles in a direct line. From 
the extremity of the sea, a sandy 
plain or flat extends southward 
between hills, and on a level with 
the sea, for the distance of eight 
or ten miles, where it is inter- 
rupted by a sandy cliff, from six- 
ty to eighty feet high, which 
traverses the valley like a wall, 
forming a barrier to the waters 
of the Take when at their great- 
est height. Beyond this cliff, the 
valley is prolonged without inter- 
ruption to Akaba. It is skirted 
on each side by a chain of moun- 
tains ; but the streams which de- 
scend from these, are in summer 
lost in their gravelly beds before 
they reach the valley below ; so 
that the lower plain, or bottom 
of the great valley, is in summer 
entirely without water, which 
alone can produce verdure in the 
Arabian deserts, and render 
them habitable. There is not 
the slightest appearance of a 
road, or of any other work of hu- 
man art, in any part of the val- 
ley. At the southern extremity 
of the valley, where it opens 
upon the plain of Akaba, Rup- 
pell describes it, towards the end 
of April 1822, as shaded by 
bushes, and covered with luxuri- 
ant pasturage. The chain of 
mountains on the east side of this 
valley is the ancient mount Seir, 
or Edom. See in Idumka. 
It has often been a question, 



JOS 



[171 ] 



JOT 



how the waters of the Jordan 
could be discharged into the 
Dead sea, without ever causing; 
it to rise above its ordinary level, 
since it has no perceptible outlet. 
The following fact, staled by 
Ruppell, may perhaps have a 
bearing on this point. In speak- 
ing of the norihern end of the 
Red sea at Akaba, he remarks : 
" I took some pains to assure 
myself, that, at the time of ebb, 
on digging a foot deep in the 
sand which the sea has just 
covered, the hole is instantly 
filled with most excellent water 
for drinking. I often quenched, 
in this way, my thirst during long 
walks 5 and it was so much the 
more refreshing, because, during 
the time of my stay in this place, 
the temperature of the air was 
sometimes above 30° of Reaumur, 
or 100° of Fahrenheit. The ex- 
istence of this water can be ex- 
plained in no other way, than by 
supposing a very copious filtra- 
tion of the water which collects 
in the Wady Araba, through the 
layer of sand which covers the 
granite formation beneath. 77 

Is it admissible here to sup- 
pose, that it is the waters of the 
Dead sea, which continue thus 
to filter through beneath the 
sands that have filled up the 
ancient channel, in which the 
Jordan would seem once to have 
flowed 1 

I. JOSEPH, the favorite son 
of Jacob and Rachel, and dis- 
tinguished by the wonderful 
providence of God, by which 
he was raised from a prison to 
be grand vizier of Egypt. His 
history is one of the most pa- 
thetic and interesting in the 
whole Bible, and is contained 
in Gen. c. 30:22. c. 37. c. 39— 
50. When the Israelites went 
up from Egypt, they took with 
them the bones of Joseph, and 



buried them in Shechem. Ex. 
13:19. Josh. 24:32. 

II. JOSEPH of Arimathea, 
a member of the Jewish sanhe- 
drim or senate, who was se- 
cretly a disciple of Christ, and 
who with Nicodemus embalmed 
the body of Jesus after his cru- 
cifixion, and laid it in his own 
new sepulchre, John 19:38. 
Mark 15 -.43, &c. See Embalm- 
ing. 

JOSHUA, the son of Nun, a 
distinguished leader of the He- 
brews, and the successor of 
Moses. His name at first was 
Oshea, Num. 13:8,16; and in 
the N. T. he is called Jesus. 
Acts 7:45. Heb. 4:8. "Both 
the names, Joshua and Jesus, 
signify saviour, deliverer. Joshua 
led Israel over the Jordan, and 
took possession of the promised 
land; he conquered the Canaan- 
ites, and then distributed the 
country among the tribes. 

The Book of Joshua contains 
the narrative of all these transac- 
tions, and was written by Joshua 
himself, or under his direction. 
From c. 24: 27 on, was, of course, 
added by a later hand ; but all 
was done under the direction and 
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 

JOSIAH, son of Amon and 
great-grandson of Hezekiah, a 
pious king of Judah, who intro- 
duced great reforms in the temple 
worship, and in the religious 
character of the nation in general. 
While cleansing the temple at 
his command, the priests found a 
copy of the law, which appears 
to have been so long neglected 
as to have been forgotten. The 
history of Josiah's good reign is 
found in 2 K. c. 22, 23. 2 Chr. 
c. 34, 35. 

JOT, a word which comes 
from the name of the Greek 
letter iota, and the Hebrew yod 
orjod. It is the smallest letter 



JUB 



[172] 



JUD 



of these alphabets ; and is there- 
fore put for the smallest thing 
or particle; which is also its 
meaning in English. Matt. 5: 18. 

I. JOTHAM, the youngest 
son of Gideon, who escaped the 
massacre of his brethren by 
Abimelech, and afterwards re- 
lated to the Shechemites the 
beautiful parable of the bramble 
and the other trees. Judg. c. 9. 
See Abimelech III. 

II. JOTHAM, the son and 
successor of Uzziah, or Azariah, 
king of Judah. He appears to 
have been for some time regent 
before the death of Uzziah his 
father, but ascended the throne 
at the age of twenty-five years, 
and reigned sixteen years. His 
history is found in 2 K. 15:5, 
32—38. 2Chr. 26:21.— 27:9. 

JOURNEY. A sabbath-day's 
journey, among the Jews, seems 
to have been reckoned at about 
seven furlongs, or one mile and 
three quarters. Acts 1 : 12. 
Matt. 24:20. 

For the journeyings of the 
Israelites, see Exodus. 

JUBILEE, a Hebrew festival, 
celebrated in every fiftieth year, 
which of course occurred after 
seven weeks of years, or seven 
times seven years. Lev. 25: 10. 
During this year no one sowed 
or reaped ; but all were satisfied 
with what the earth and the 
trees produced spontaneously. 
Each resumed possession of 
his inheritance, whether it were 
sold, mortgaged or alienated ; 
and Hebrew slaves of every 
description were set free, with 
their wives and children. Lev. 
c. 25. The first nine days were 
spent in festivity, during- which 
no one worked, and every one 
put a crown on his head. On 
the tenth day, which was the 
day of solemn expiation, the 
sanhedrim ordered the trumpets 



to sound, and instantly the slaves 
were declared free, and the lands 
returned to their hereditary own- 
ers. This law was mercifully 
designed to prevent the ricn 
from oppressing the poor, and re- 
ducing them to perpetual sla- 
very ; and also to prevent their 
getting possession of ail the lands 
by purchase, mortgage or usur- 
pation 5 to cause that debts should 
not be multiplied too much, and 
that slaves should not continue, 
with their wives and children, in 
perpetual bondage. 

JUDAH, the fourth son of 
Jacob and Leah, born in Me- 
sopotamia. Judah was always 
considered as the chief of Jacob's 
children, and his tribe was the 
most powerful and numerous. 
The south-eastern part of Pal- 
estine fell to the lot of this tribe. 
In its territory was Jerusalem, 
the seat of the Jewish worship ; 
and from Judah sprung David 
and his royal race, from which 
descended the Saviour of the 
world. 

After the return from the cap- 
tivity, this tribe in some sort 
united in itself the whole He- 
brew nation, who from that time 
were known only as Judcei, 
Jews, descendants of Judah. 
Judah, when named in contra- 
distinction to Israel, or the king- 
dom of the ten tribes, or Samaria, 
denotes the kingdom of Judah, 
and of David's descendants. 
One of the principal preroga- 
tives of this tribe was, that it 
preserved the true religion, and 
the public exercise of the priest- 
hood, with the legal ceremonies 
in the temple at Jerusalem ; 
while the ten tribes gave them- 
selves up to idolatry, and the 
worship of the golden calves. 

JUDAS, the name of several 
persons in the Bible. 

1. Judas Iscariot, i. e. man of 



JUD 



[173] 



JUD 



Carioth or Kerioih, a city of 
Judah or Benjamin. Being one 
of the twelve apostles of our 
Lord, he meanly and wickedly 
betrayed the Saviour into the 
hands of the Pharisees, for the 
paltry bribe of thirty pieces of 
silver, about fifteen dollars. His 
remorse was afterwards so great 
that he went and hanged himself 
in the field Aceldama. Matt. 
27:3, &c. Luke, in Acts 1:18, 
adds another circumstance ; that, 
falling down, probably by the 
breaking of the rope, he burst 
asunder, and his bowels gushed 
out. Judas seems to have pos- 
sessed the full confidence of his 
fellow apostles, and was in- 
trusted by them with all the 
presents which were made them, 
and all their means of subsist- 
ence ; and when the twelve were 
sent out to preach and to work 
miracles, Judas appears to have 
been among them, and to have 
received the same powers. He 
was accustomed, however, even 
at this time, to appropriate part 
of their common stock to his 
own use, John 12:6; and at 
length sealed his infamy by be- 
traying his Lord for money to 
the Jews. 

2. Judas, Matt. 13 : 55, or Jncle, 
one of the apostles, called also 
Lebbeus and Thaddeus, the son 
of Alpheus and Mary, own 
brother of James the less, and 
cousin of our Lord. He was 
the author of the epistle which 
bears his name. Mark 6:3. 
Luke 6:16. Acts 1:13. Jude 
1; comp. Matt. 10:3. 

3. Judas, a Christian teacher, 
called also Barsahas, sent from 
Jerusalem to Antioch with Paul 
and Barnabas. Acts 15:22, 
27,32. 

4. Judas, surnamed the Gali- 
lean, called also by Josephus, 
the Gaulonite. He was born at 

15 * 



Gamala, a city of lower Gauloni- 
tis, lying near the south-eastern 
shore of the lake of Tiberias. 
In company with one Sadoc, or 
Sadducus, he attempted to ex- 
cite a sedition among the Jews, 
but was destroyed by Quirinus, 
or Cyrenius, at that time gov- 
ernor of Syria and Judea. Acts 
5:37. 

JUDE, see in Judas 2. 

JUDEA. The name Judea 
was applied in different ages 
either to the whole or to a part 
of Palestine. In the time of 
David, the name Judah denoted 
that portion of the country which 
belonged to the tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin. Josh. 11:21. 
2 Sam. 5:5. After the secession 
of the ten tribes, the territory of 
the kingdom of Judah was called 
Judea, including the tracts be- 
longing to Judah and Benjamin, 
and also part of that which ap- 
pertained to the tribes of Dan 
and Simeon. Hence it became 
at length a general name for the 
southern part of Palestine, while 
the northern part was called 
Galilee, and the middle Sumaria. 
Afler the captivity, as most of 
those who returned were of the 
kingdom of Judah, the name 
Judah, or Judea, was applied 
generally to the whole of Pales- 
tine. Hag. 1:1,14. 2:2. When 
the whole country iell into the 
power of the Romans, the former 
division into Galilee, Samaria 
and Judea seems to have again 
become current. Josephus de- 
scribes Judea in his day as bound- 
ed north by Samaria, east by the 
Jordan, west by the Mediterra- 
nean, and south by the territory 
of the Arabs. These bounda- 
ries would seem to include a part 
at least of Idumea. Judea in 
this extent constituted part of the 
kingdom of Herod the Great, 
and afterwards belonged to his 



JUD 



[174] 



JUD 



son Archelaus. When the latter 
was banished for his cruelties, 
Judea was reduced to the form 
of a Roman province, annexed 
to the proconsulate of Syria, 
and governed by procurators, 
until it was at length given as 
part of his kingdom to Herod 
Agrippa II. During all this 
time, the boundaries of the prov- 
ince were often varied, b}^ the 
addition or abstraction of differ- 
ent towns and cities. 

The Wilderness of Judea, in 
which John began to preach, and 
where Christ was templed, seems 
to have been in the eastern part 
of Judah, adjacent to the Dead 
sea, and stretching towards Jeri- 
*cho. It is still one of the most 
dreary and desolate regions of 
the whole country. Matt. 3:1.4:1. 

JUDGES, in Heb. Shophe- 
tim, were the rulers, chiefs, 
leaders of Israel, from Joshua 
to Saul. The Carthaginians, a 
colony of the Tyrians, had like- 
wise governors, whom they called 
Si/ffetes, or Sophetim, with au- 
thority like those of the Hebrews, 
almost equal to that of kings. 

The dignity of judge was for 
life ; but the succession was not 
always constant. There were 
anarchies, or intervals, during 
which the commonwealth was 
without rulers There were like- 
wise long intervals of servitude 
and oppression, under which the 
Hebrews groaned, and were 
without either judges or govern- 
ors. Although God alone regu- 
larly appointed the judges, yet 
the people, on some occasions, 
chose that individual who ap- 
peared to them most proper to 
deliver them from oppression ; 
and as it often happened, that 
the oppressions which occa- 
sioned recourse to the election 
of a judge, were not felt over all 
Israel, the power of such judge 



extended only over that province 
which he had delivered. We 
do not find that Jephthah exer- 
cised his authority on this side 
Jordan ; nor that Barak extended 
his beyond it. The authority of 
judges was not inferior to that of 
kings ; it extended to peace and 
war ; they decided causes with 
absolute authority ; but had no 
power to make new laws, or to 
impose new burdens on the 
people. They were protectors 
of the laws, defenders of religion, 
and avengers of crimes, particu- 
larly of idolatry 3 they were 
without pomp or splendor ; and 
without guards, train or equi- 
page, unless their own wealth 
might enable them to appear an- 
swerable to their dignity. 

After the death of Joshua, the 
tribe of Judah for some time 
waged war with the Canaanites, 
Judg. c. 1 ; but the people soon 
fell away to idolatry, c. 2 : 11 , &c. 
The Lord raised up several 
judges, c. 2 : 16, &c. for the space, 
apparently, of eighteen or twenty 
years. The first one mentioned 
is Othniel, about 1400 B. C. or, 
according to Dr. Hales, about 
1564 B. C. The recorded suc- 
cession of the judges is the fol- 
lowing :— 

Years. 
Othniel, about B.C. 1400, 40 

Under Eglon, 18 

Ehud, &c 80 

Under the Philistines,, unk. 
Shampar, unk. 

Under Jabin, 20 

Deborah and Barak, 40 

Under Midian, 7 

Gideon, 40 

Abimelech, 3 

Tola, 23 

Jair, 22 

Under the Ammonites,... 18 

Jephthah, 6 

Ibzan,... 7 

Elon, 10 

Abdon, 8 

Under the Philistines,... 40 



KAD 



[175] 



KAD 



Years. 

Samson,) 20 

Eli, J 40 

Under the Philistines,... 20 

Samuel, about 12 

Saul, the first king, B. C. 1091. 

The Book of Judges contains 
the annals of the times in which 
Israel was ruled by judges. It 
is often referred to in the N. T. 
and other part's of the Bible. 

JUDGMENT is put, in Matt. 
5:21,22, for a court of judgment, 
a tribunal, viz. the tribunal of 
seven judges, which Josephus 
mentions as existing in every 
city, ard which decided causes 
of less importance. See under 
Synagogue. 

For the expression judgment 
hall, see Pretorium. 

The day of judgment, for 
which the word judgment alone 
is sometimes used, is that great 
da)', at the end of the world and 
of time, when Christ shall sit as 
judge over all the universe ; and 
when every individual of the hu- 
man race will be judged and 
recompensed according to his 
works, whether they be good or 
evil. Matt. 10:15. 12:36,41,42. 
Heb. 9:27. Rev. 14:7. See 
Matt. 25:31, &c. 

JULIUS, a centurion of the 
cohort of Augustus, to whom 
Festus, governor of Judea, com- 
mitted Paul, to be conveyed to 
Rome. Julius had great regard 
for Paul. Acts 27:1, &c. He 
suffered him to land at Sidon, 



and to visit his friends there ; and 
in a subsequent part of the 
voyage he opposed the violence 
of the soldiers, directed against 
the prisoners generally, in order 
to save the apostle. 

JUNIPER is found in the 
English Bible, 1 K. 19:4,5. Job 
30:4. Ps. 120:4. The Hebrew 
word, however, signifies the plant 
genista, or Spanish broom, which 
is common in the desert regions 
of Arabia, and has yellowish 
blossoms and a bitter root. 

JUPITER, the supreme god 
of the heathen Greeks and Ro- 
mans. He was called the son of 
Saturn and Ops, and was said to 
have been born in Crete. The 
character attributed to him in pa- 
gan mythology was a compound 
of all that is wicked, obscene and 
beastly in the catalogue of human 
crime. Still he was ever describ- 
ed as of noble and dignified port 
and bearing. Barnabas was sup- 
posed by the people of Lys- 
tra to represent him. Acts 14: 
12,13. 

JUSTIFICATION, the being 
regarded and treated as if inno- 
cent, or acquittal from the conse- 
quences of guilt. Justification by 
faith means that a person, on ac- 
count of true and living faith in 
Christ as manifested by good 
works, will be delivered from 
condemnation on account of his 
sins ; i. e. his sins will be forgiven, 
and he be regarded and treated 
as if innocent and holy. 



K. 



KADESH, or Kadesh-Bar- | 
NEA, called also En-Mishpat, 
Gen. 14 : 7, the name of a city and 
the desert around it, in the south- 
ern border of the promised land. 
It is said, in Num. 20 : 16, to lie 



in the "uttermost boraer of 
Edom," and was, therefore, 
probably situated in or very near 
the great valley El Ghor, south 
of the Dead sea. The desert of 
Kadesh is mentioned Ps. 29:8. 




tYf 1 I r . 



: 



KEN 



[176] 



KIN 



KADMONITES, Gen. 15:19, 
a tribe of people who inhabited 
the promised land east of the Jor- 
dan, about mount Hermon. They 
were descended from Canaan, the 
son of Ham. Cadmus, the sup- 
posed inventor of the Greek al- 
phabet, and who came from the 
East, was probably a Kadmonite. 
He only introduced into Greece 
the alphabet of his own country, 
since the Greek letters are obvi- 
ously derived from the Phoenician 
or ancient Hebrew letters. 

KEDAR, a son of Ishmael, 
Gen. 25:13, the father of the 
Kedarenians, Cedrei, mentioned 
by Pliny, who dwelt in the neigh- 
borhood of the Nabathaeans, in 
Arabia Deserta. These people 
living- in tents, it is not possible 
to show the place of their habi- 
tation, because they often chang- 
ed it. Arabia Deserta is some- 
times called Kedar ; but the 
Kedarenians dwelt principally in 
the south of Arabia Deserta, or in 
the north of Arabia Petrsea ; 
there were some not far from the 
Red sea. Cant. 1:5. Isa.42:ll 

KEDRON, see Kidron. 

KENITES, a people who 
dwelt west of the Dead sea, and 
extended themselves far into 
Arabia Petraea. Jethro, the 
father-in-law of Moses, was a 
Kenite ; and out of regard to him, 
all of this tribe who submitted to 
the Hebrews were suffered to 
live in their own country. The 
rest fled, in all probability, to the 
Edomites and Amalekites. See 
1 Sam. 15:6. The lands of the 
Kenites were in Judah's lot. 

KENIZZITES, an ancient 
people of Canaan, whose land 
God promised to the descendants 
of Abraham, Gen. 15:19, and 
who probably dwelt in Idumsea. 

KETURAH, Abraham's sec- 
ond wife, Gen. 25:1,2, is held by 
the Jews to be the same as Ha- 



gar. We know nothing of her, 
except as the mother of Zimran, 
Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak 
and Shuah. Abraham gave 
presents to these, and sent them 
east into Arabia Deserta. 

KIBROTH-AVAH, or Kib- 
roth-hattaavah, the graves 
of lust, was one of the encamp- 
ments of Israel in the wilderness, 
where they desired of God flesh 
for their sustenance, declaring 
they were tired of manna. Num. 
11:34,35. Quails were sent in 
great quantities, but, while the 
meat was in their mouths, God 
smote so great a number of them, 
that the place was called the 
graves of those ivho lusted. Ps. 
78:30. 

KIDRON, a brook in the val- 
ley east of Jerusalem, between 
the city and the mount of Olives, 
which discharges itself, along 
the valley of Jehoshaphat and 
winding between rugged and 
desolate hills through the wilder- 
ness of St. Saba, into the Dead 
sea. It has generally but little 
water, and often none ; but after 
storms, or heavy rains, it swells 
and runs with much impetuosity. 
A branch of the valley of Kidron 
was the sink of Jerusalem, and 
here Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah 
burnt the idols and abominations 
of the apostate Jews. 2 K. 23 : 4. 
See Hinnom, and Jerusalem. 

KING, KINGS.. The Israel- 
ites had no kings till Saul ; having 
been governed, first by elders, as 
in Egypt ; ihen by rulers of 
God's appointment, as Moses and 
Joshua ; then by judges, as Oth- 
niel, Ehud, Gideon, Samuel 5 and 
lastly, by kings, as Saul, David, 
Solomon. 

After their return from captiv- 
ity, B. C. 542, the Jews lived 
under the dominion of the Per- 
sians 140 years, till Alexander the 
Great, who came to Jerusalem 



KIN 



[ 1T7] 



KIN 



B. C. 328. After his death, B. C. 
319, Judea submitted to the kings 
of Egypt, and then to the kings 
of Syria ; but Antiochus Epiph- 
anes having forced them to take 
arms for the defence of their 
religion, 164 B. C. the Macca- 
bees recovered by degrees their 
ancient liberty, and lived inde- 
pendent from the time of John 
Hircanus, 126 B. C. till Judea 
was reduced into a province by 
the Romans. See Hebrews. 

In Scripture, the word king does 
not always imply the same degree 
of power or importance 5 neither 
does it imply the magnitude of 
the dominion or territor} 7 of this 
national ruler. Many persons 
are called kings in Scripture, 
whom we should rather denomi- 
nate chiefs or leaders ; and many 
single towns, or towns with their 
adjacent villages, are said to 
have had kings. Being unaware 
of this lower sense of the word 
king, many persons have been 
embarrassed by the passage, 
Deut. 33 : 4,5, " Moses command- 
ed us a law— he was king in 
Jeshurun," or king among the 
upright; i. e. he was the principal 
among the assembly of the heads 
of the Israelites. He was the 
chief, the leader, the guide of 
his people, fulfilling the duties of 
a king, though not king in the 
same sense as David or Solomon. 
These remarks will remove the 
surprise which some persons have 
felt, at seeing that so small a 
country as Canaan contained 
thirty-one kings who were con- 
quered, Josh. 12:9 — 24, beside 
many who, no doubt, escaped 
the arms of Joshua. Adonizedek, 
himself no very powerful king, 
mentions seventy kings whom he 
had subdued and mutilated. See 
also 1 K. 4:21. Even at the 
present day, the heads of Arab 
tribes are often called king, which 



in this case also means no more 
than chief, sheikh. 

The following is a list of the 
kings of Judah and Israel as 
given in the Bible. The chrono- 
logical dates are those of Calmet j 
but we can regard them as only 
approximations to the truth. 

Of the whole Nation. 

Began to reign Reijnied 

Saul,. . . . B. C. 1091. . . .40 years. 

David, 1051.... 40£ " 

Solomon, 1010.... 40 " 

Rehoboam,.... 971.... 1 " 

Of Judah alone. 

Rehoboam, 972., 

Abijam, 954.. 

Asa, 951.. 

Jehoshaphat, 910.. 

Jehoram, 885.. 

Ahaziah, 881.. 

Interregnum^. . . .880. . 

Joash, 874., 

Amaziah, 835., 

Uzziah, or 
Azariah, 

Jotham,...' 754.. 

Ahaz, 738.. 

Hezekiah, 722.. 

Manasseh, G94. , 

Amon, 639., 

Josiah, 637., 

Jehoahaz, 606. 

Jehoiakim, 606. 

Jehoiachin, 594. 

Zedekiah, 594. 

Captivity, 583 



....806. 



.16 " 

. 3 " 

.41 " 

.25 " 

. 4 " 

. 1 " 

. 6 " 

.40 " 

.29 " 

.52 " 

.16 " 
.16 " 
.29 " 
.55 " 
. 2 " 
.31 " 
\ h or 3 
I months. 
.11 years, 
i h or 3 
( months. 
.11 years. 



Of Israel alone. 

Jeroboam, 971 22 " 

Nadab, 950.... 2 « 

Baasha, 949 24 ** 

Elah, 926.... 2 " 

Zimri, 925. ... 7 days. 

Omri, 925 12 years. 

Ahab, 914.... 22 " 

Ahaziah, 893.... 2 " 

Jehoram,.. 892 12 « 

Jehu, 880.... 28 " 

Jehoahaz, 852... 17 " 

Joash, or ( 



Jehoash, 



835.... 16 " 



KIN 



[178] 



KNE 



Began to reign Reigned 
Jeroboam II, ....819.... 41 years. 
Zachariah, 778.. j ^ y ™' or 

Shallum, 768 1 month. 

Menahem, 767.... 10 years. 

Pekaiah, 757.... 2 " 

Pekah, 755.... 20 " 

Interregnum, ... .734. .. . 9 " 

Hoshea, 725 9 " 

Captivity, 716 

The two hooks of Kings con- 
tain a history of the kings of 
Judah and Israel intermingled ; 
commencing with Solomon and 
ending with Zedekiah 5 unlike 
the books of Chronicles, which 
give an account only of the kings 
of Judah. In the Septuagint and 
Vulgate, the two books of Sam- 
uel are also called books of 
Kings 5 and then there are four 
books of Kings, which are num- 
bered accordingly. 

KINGDOM of heaven is an 
expression used in the N. T. to 
signify the reign, dispensation or 
administration of Jesus Christ. 
The ancient prophets, when de- 
scribing the character of the 
Messiah, scarcely ever failed to 
use the name of king or deliverer ; 
so that, when they spoke of his 
humiliations and sufferings, they 
interspersed hints of his power, 
his reign and his divinity. The 
Jews and the apostles, accustom- 
ed to this way of speaking, ex- 
pected the kingdom of the Mes- 
siah to resemble that of a tempo- 
ral king, exercising power over his 
enemies, restoring the Hebrew 
monarchy and the throne of Da- 
vid to all its splendor, subduing 
the nations, and rewarding his 
friends and faithful servants in 
proportion to their fidelity and 
services. Hence the contests 
among the apostles about prece- 
dency in his kingdom ; and hence 
the sons of Zebedee desired the 
two chief places in it. Jesus, to 



prove that he was the true Mes- 
siah, o ten declared that the king- 
dom of heaven was at hand, or 
was come. — Our Saviour desig- 
nates usually, by the phrase king- 
dom cf heaven, the community of 
those who, united through his 
Spirit, under him, as their Head, 
rejoice in the truth, and enjoy a 
holy and blissful life, in commu- 
nion with him. 

KIRJATH-JEARIM, a city 
of the Gibeonites, afterwards 
given to Judah. It was on the 
confines of Benjamin, Josh. 15 : 9, 
about nine miles from Jerusalem, 
in the way to Lydda. Here the 
ark was lodged for many years, 
in the house of Abinadab, till 
David removed it to Jerusalem. 
1 Chr. c. 13. 

KISHON, a brook which rises 
in the plain of Jezreel, near the 
foot of mount Tabor. After 
passing through the great plain 
and receiving the waters of va- 
rious smaller streams, it flows 
along the foot of mount Carmel, 
and discharges itself into the 
Mediterranean, a short distance 
south of Acco, or Acre. Judg. 
5:21. See Carmel II. 

KITE, a bird of prey, and 
therefore placed by Moses among 
the unclean birds. Lev. 11:14. 
See Birds. 

KITTIM, son of Javan, and 
grandson of Noah. Gen 10:4. 
See Chittim. 

KNEADING-TROUGHS. 
In the description of the depart- 
ure of the Israelites from Egypt, 
Exod. 12:34, we read that " the 
people took their dough before 
it was leavened, their knead- 
ing-troughs being bound up in 
their clothes upon their shoul- 
ders." Persons who know 
how cumbersome our kneading- 
troughs are, and how much less 
important they are than many 
other utensils, may wonder at 



LAM 



[179] 



LAM 



this statement, and find a dif- 
ficulty in accounting for it. But 
this wonder will cease, when it 
is understood that the vessels 
which the Arabs make use of, for 
kneading- the unleavened cakes 
they prepare for those who travel 
in the very desert through which 
Israel passed, are only small 
wooden bowls ; and that they 
seem to use no other in their 
own tents for that purpose or for 
any other; these bowls being 
used by them for kneading their 
bread, and serving up their pro- 
visions when cooked. It will 
appear, that nothing could be 
more convenient than kneading- 
troughs of this sort for the Isra- 
elites in their journey. 



KOHATH, son of Levi, and 
father of the Kohathites, who 
were appointed to carry the ark 
and sacred utensils of the taber- 
nacle during the journeyings of 
the Israelites in the desert. Ex. 
6:18. Num. 4:4, &c. 

KORAH, a Levite, who re- 
belled against Moses, with Da- 
than and Abiram, and with them 
was swallowed up by the mi- 
raculous opening of the earth. 
Num. c. 16. But his children 
escaped, Num. 26:11; and the 
Korahites, or " sons of Korah," 
were a celebrated family of sing- 
ers and poets in the time of 
David. 1 Chr. 9:19. 26:1. To 
them are ascribed several Psalms j 
as Ps. 42, 44, 84, 85, &c. 



L. 



LAISH, a city in the northern 
border of Palestine, acquired by 
the tribe of Dan, from whom it 
was subsequently called Dan. 
Judg. 18:7,29. See Dan. 

LAKE. The chief lakes in 
Palestine are those of the As- 
phaltites and Tiberias. (See 
under Sea.) The lake of Me- 
rom, which lies north of that of 
Tiberias, is mentioned only in 
Josh. 11:5,7. See Merom. 

LAMECH, son of Methusael, 
had two wives, Adah and Zillah. 
His address to them in Gen. 4 : 23, 
is the oldest specimen of poetry 
extant, and should read thus : — 

Hear my voice, ye wives of La- 
mech ; 

Listen unto my speech; 

I have slain a man who wound- 
ed me, 

Yea, a young man who smote me. 

If Cain should be avenged seven 
fold, 

Then Lamech seventy and seven 
fold. 



It is not to be understood here 
that Lamech had slain two per- 
sons. What might at first seem 
to express this, is merely the 
repetition of poetic parallelism. 

LAMENTATIONS of Jere- 
miah, an elegiac poem, composed 
by the prophet, on occasion of 
the destruction of Jerusalem by 
Nebuchadnezzar. The first two 
chapters principally describe the 
calamities of the siege of Jeru- 
salem; the third deplores the 
persecutions which Jeremiah 
himself had suffered ; the fourth 
adverts to the ruin and desolation 
of the city and temple, and the 
misfortune of Zedekiah ; and 
the fifth is a kind of form of 
prayer for the Jews in their cap- 
tivity. At the close, the prophet 
speaks of the cruelty of the 
Edomites, who had insulted Je- 
rusalem in her misery, and 
threatens them with the wrath of 
God. 

The first four chapters of the 



LAM 



[ 180] 



LAN 



Lamentations are in the acrostic 
form ; every verse or couplet 
beginning with a letter of the 
Hebrew alphabet, in regular 
order. The first and second 
chapters contain twenty-two 
verses, according to the letters 
of the alphabet ; the third chap- 
ter has triplets beginning with the 
same letter 3 and the fourth is 
like the first two, having twenty- 
two verses. The fifth chapter is 
not acrostic. (See Letters.) 
The style of Jeremiah's Lamen- 
tations is lively, tender, pathetic 
and affecting. It was the talent 
of this prophet to write melan- 
choly and moving elegies ; and 
never was a subject more worthy 
of tears, nor written with more 
tender and affecting sentiments. 

LAMP, in general, means the 
common lights used in oriental 
houses. In Matt. c. 25, how- 
ever, it seems to mean any sort 
of light that shines brighter than 
common ; whether torches, blaz- 
ing resinous pieces of wood, or 
lamps that are supplied with 
more than ordinary quantities of 
oil, or other unctuous substances ; 
such as that mentioned by Han- 
way, in his Travels, which stood 
in the court-yard of a person of 
some distinction in Persia, was 
supplied with tallow, and was 
sufficient to enlighten the whole 
place, as a single wax-candle 
served for the illumination of the 
room where he was entertain- 
ed. Such, probably, were the 
lamps our Lord speaks of in the 
parable of the virgins, which 
were something of the nature of 
common lamps, for they were 
supplied with oil ; but then were 
supposed to be sufficient for en- 
lightening the company they 
went to meet, on a very joyful 
occasion, which required the 
most vigorous lights. Chardin 
informs us, that in many parts of 



the East, and in particular in the 
Indies, instead of torches and 
flambeaux, they carry a pot of 
oil in one hand, and a lamp full 
of oily rags in the other. This 
seems to be a very happy illus- 
tration of this part of the para- 
ble. He observes also that they 
seldom make use of candles in 
the East, especially among the 
great; candles casting but little 
light, and they sitting at a con- 
siderable distance from them. 
Ezek. 1 : 13, represents the light 
of lamps, accordingly, as very 
brilliant. 

LANGUAGE. To the stu- 
dent of the Bible, one of the 
most important subjects is the 
character and history of the 
original languages in which that 
holy book was written. In re- 
spect to the original Greek of the 
N. T. some remarks have been 
made, under the article Greece. 
For the Hebrew language, a ref- 
erence has been made to the 
present article. The Hebrew is 
but one of the cluster of cognate 
languages which anciently pre- 
vailed in Western Asia ; com- 
monly called the oriental lan- 
guages, or in later years the 
Semitish, or ShemitisJi, lan- 
guages, as belonging particularly 
to the descendants of Shem. A 
proper knowledge of the He- 
brew, therefore, implies also an 
acquaintance with these other 
kindred dialects. 

The oriental languages may 
be divided into three principal 
dialects; viz. the Aramaean, the 
Hebrew and the Arabic- — (1.) 
The Aramaean, spoken in Syria, 
Mesopotamia and Babylonia, or 
Chaldea, is subdivided into the 
Syriac and Chaldee dialects, 
sometimes called also the West 
and East Aramaean.' — (2.) The 
Hebrew or Canaanitish niateei; 
Isa. 19:18, was spoken in Pales- 



LAN 



C Wl ] 



LAO 



tine, and probably, with little 
variation, in Phoenicia and the 
Phoenician colonies, e. g. at Car- 
thage and other places. The 
remains of the Phoenician and 
Punic dialects are too few and 
too much disfigured, to enable us 
to judge with certainty how ex- 
tensively these languages were 
the same as the dialect of Pales- 
tine. — (3.) The Arabic, to which 
the Ethiopic bears a special re- 
semblance, comprises, in modern 
times, a great variety of dialects 
as a spoken language, and is 
spread over a vast extent of 
country ; but so far as we are 
acquainted with its former state, 
it appears more anciently to 
have been limited principally to 
Arabia and Ethiopia. 

Of all the oriental languages, 
the Hebrew bears marks of being 
the most ancient. The oldest 
records that are known to exist 
are composed in this language ; 
and there are other reasons 
which render it probable, that it 
preceded its kindred dialects. 
It flourished in Palestine, among 
the Phoenicians and Hebrews, 
until the period of the Babylo- 
nish exile ; soon after which it 
declined, and finally was suc- 
ceeded by a kind of Hebraeo- 
Aramsean dialect, such as was 
spoken in the time of our Sa- 
viour among the Jews. The 
West Aramaean had flourished 
before this, for a long time, in 
the east and north of Palestine ; 
but it now advanced farther west, 
and during the period that the 
Christian churches of Syria flour- 
ished, it was widely extended. 
It is at present almost a dead 
language, and has been so for 
several centuries. The Hebrew 
may be regarded as having been 
a dead language, except among 
a small circle of literati, for 
about the space of 2000 years. 
16 



Our knowledge of Arabic litera- 
ture extends back very little 
beyond the time of Mohammed. 
But the followers of this pre- 
tended prophet have spread the 
dialect of the Koran over almost 
half the population of the world. 
Arabic is now the vernacular 
language of Arabia, Syria, 
Egypt, and in a great measure 
of Palestine and all the northern 
coast of Africa ) while it is read 
and mderstood wherever the 
Koran has gone, in Turkey, 
Persia, India and Tartary. 

The remains of the ancient 
Hebrew tongue are contained in 
the O. T. and in the few Phoeni- 
cian and Punic words and in- 
scriptions that have been here 
and there discovered. The re- 
mains of the Aramaean are ex- 
tant in a variety of books. In 
Chaldee, we have a part of the 
books of Daniel and Ezra, Dan. 
2:4.-7:28. Ezra 4:8.-6:18, 
and 7 : 12 — 26, which are the most 
ancient of any specimens of this 
dialect. The Targum of Onke- 
los, i. e. the translation of the 
Pentateuch into Chaldee, affords 
the next and purest specimen of 
that language. In Syriac, there 
is a considerable number of 
books and MSS. extant. The 
oldest specimen of this language, 
that we have, is contained in the 
Peshito, or Svriac version of 
the O. and N. T. A multitude 
of writers in this dialect have 
flourished, many of whose writ- 
ings probably are still extant, 
although but few have been 
printea in Europe. In Arabic, 
there exists a great variety of 
MSS. and books, historical, sci- 
entific and literary. 

LAODICEA, a city of Asia 
Minor, and the metropolis of 
Phrygia Pacatiana. It was sit- 
uated on the river Lycus, not far 
above itsjrnction with the Me- 



LAV 



[ 182] 



LAW 



ander, and in the vicinity of 
Colosse and Hierapolis. Its 
earlier name was Diospolis, or 
Dioccesarea ; but after being - en- 
larged by Antiochus II, it was 
called Laodicea from his wife 
Laodices. About A. D. 65 or 
66, this city, together with Hie- 
rapolis and Colosse, was de- 
stroyed by an earthquake, but 
was afterwards rebuilt by Mar- 
cus Aurelius. It is now in ruins, 
and the place is called Ladik, 
Eski-hissar, or Joki-hissar. Col. 
2:1. 4:13.15,16. Rev. 1:11. 

LAPWING, a bird by Moses 
declared to be unclean. Lev. 
11 : 19. It is about the size of 
a thrush ; its beak is long, 
black, thin, and a little hooked ; 
its legs gray and short. On its 
head is a tuft of feathers of dif- 
ferent colors, which it raises or 
lowers as it pleases. Its neck 
and breast are something red- 
dish ; and its wings and tail black 
with white streaks. See Birds. 

LATTICE, see House, p. 
144. 

LAVER, Brazen. Moses 
was directed, Ex. 30:18, to 
make, among other articles of 
furniture for the services of the 
tabernacle, a laver of brass. 
This is not particularly described 
as to form ; but the lavers after- 
wards made for the temple were 
borne by four cherubim, stand- 
ing upon bases or pedestals 
mounted on brazen wheels, and 
having handles belonging to 
them, by means of which they 
might be drawn, and conveyed 
from one place to another, as 
they should be wanted. These 
lavers were double, that is to 
say, composed of a basin, which 
received the water that fell from 
another square vessel above it, 
from which they drew water 
with cocks. The whole work 
Was of brass j the square vessel 



was adorned with the heads of a 
lion, an ox and a cherub ; that 
is to say, of extraordinary hiero- 
glyphic creatures. Each of the 
lavers contained forty baths, or 
four bushels, forty-one pints, and 
forty cubic inches, of Paris 
measure. There were ten made 
in this form, and of this capaci- 
ty ; five of them were placed to 
the right, and five to the left of 
the temple, between the altar 
of burnt-offerings and the steps 
which led to the porch of the 
temple. 

In describing the laver made 
for the tabernacle, the sacred 
writer says, Moses " made it of 
brass, and the foot of it of brass, 
and of the looking-glasses of the 
women assembling, which as- 
sembled at the door of the tab- 
ernacle of the congregation." 
Ex. 38:8. These were doubt- 
less the mirrors of the women, 
which in ancient times were 
merely plates of metal polished. 

For the Brazen Laver or Sea 
of Solomon, see Sea, at the end. 

LAW, as used in Scripture, 
most commonly means the Law 
of Moses, i. e. all the statutes 
and ordinances of religion insti- 
tuted by him at the command of 
God. In this way also it comes 
sometimes to mean the Scrip- 
tures of the O. T. In the Jewish 
division of the O. T. into the 
law, the prophets and the hagi- 
ography, the law, or torah, des- 
ignates the Pentateuch. 
~ LAWYERS. These func- 
tionaries, so often mentioned in 
the N. T. were men who devoted 
themselves to the study and ex- 
planation of the Jewish law; 
particularly of the traditionary 
or oral law. They belonged 
mostly to the sect of the Phari- 
sees, and fell under the reproof 
of our Saviour for having taken 
from the people the key of 



LEA 



[183 j 



LEA 



knowledge. They were as the 
blind leading the blind. See 
Scribes. 

I. LAZARUS, brother of 
Martha and Mary, dwelt with his 
sisters at Bethany, near Jerusa- 
lem 5 and our Saviour sometimes 
lodged with them, when he visit- 
ed that city. While he was be- 
yond Jordan with his apostles, 
Lazarus fell sick, and died. Jesus 
came to Bethany immediately, 
and raised him from the dead. 
John c. 11. 

II. LAZARUS. In Luke 16: 
19, Jesus in a parable speaks of 
a poor man, named Lazarus, 
who lay at a rich man's gate, full 
of sores, and desired the crumbs 
which fell from his table, without 
finding relief or pity ; while the 
rich man enjoyed great plenty, 
was clothed in purple and fine 
linen, and fared sumptuously 
every day. Lazarus, having 
died, was carried by angels into 
Abraham's bosom. This phrase 
depends on the notion which the 
Jews had of the. happiness of the 
other world, which they symboli- 
cally represented by a feast. So 
in Matt. 8:11, it is said, "that 
many shall come and sit down 
(i. e. recline at table) with Abra- 
ham, and Isaac and Jacob in the 
kingdom of heaven." In like 
manner, Lazarus is said to be 
carried into Abraham's bosom, 
i. e. to recline at this heavenly 
feast in the place next to Abra- 
ham, and so lie on his bosom ; 
just as John reclined on Jesus' 
bosom at supper. John 13:23. 
See Eating, and Abram. 

LEAD is a very heavy metal, 
sufficiently well known. The 
mode of purifying it from the 
dross which is mixed with it, by 
subjecting it to a fierce flame, 
and melting off its scoria, fur- 
nishes several allusions in Scrip- 
ture to God's purifying, or pun- 



ishing, his people. The prophet 
Ezekiel, 22:18,20, compares the 
Jews to lead, because of their 
guilt, and dross, from which they 
must be purged as by fire. Lead 
was one of the substances used 
for writing upon by the ancients. 
See Book. 

LEAVEN is sour dough, 
which is kept over from one 
baking to another, in order to 
raise the new dough. Leaven 
was forbidden to the Hebrews, 
during the seven days of the pass- 
over, in memory of what their 
ancestors did, when they went 
out of Egypt; they being then 
obliged to carry unleavened 
meal with them, and to make 
bread in haste ; the Egyptians 
pressing them to be gone. Ex. 
12:15,19. Lev. 2:11. They 
were very careful in cleansing 
their houses from it before this 
feast began. God forbade either 
leaven or honey to be offered to 
him in his temple 5 that is, in 
cakes, or in any baked meats. 
But on other occasions they 
might offer leavened bread or 
honey. See Numb. 15:20,21, 
where God requires them to give 
the first-fruits of the bread, which 
was kneaded in all the cities of 
Israel, to the priests and Levites. 
Paul, 1 Cor. 5:7,8, expresses his 
desire, that Christians should 
celebrate their passover with un- 
leavened bread ; which figura- 
tively signifies sincerity and truth. 
The same apostle alludes to the 
care with which the Hebrews 
cleansed their houses from leav- 
en, when he says, " A little leav- 
en leaveneth the whole lump ;" 
that is, if there were but a small 
portion of leaven in a quantity 
of bread or paste, during the 
passover, it was thereby ren- 
dered unclean, and was to be 
thrown away and burned. 1 Cor. 
5:6. 



LEB 



[184] 



LEB 



LEBANON, or Libanus, a 
long chain of limestone moun- 
tains, on the northern border of 
Palestine. It consists of two 
principal ridges, the easterly 
ridge being called Anti-Libanus 
by the Greeks. The western 
ridge, or proper Libanus, runs 
nearly parallel to the coast of 
the Mediterranean; the eastern, 
or Anti-Libanus, runs first east, 
but soon inclines in like manner 
to the north. Between these two 
ridges is a long valley called 
Code- Syria, or Hollow Syria, 
the Valley of Lebanon, Josh. 
11:17, at present Bukkah; it 
opens towards the iyorth. The 
elevation of Lebanon is so great, 
that it is always covered in many 
places with snow ; whence, in all 

frobability, it derives its name, 
t is composed of four enclosures 
of mountains, which rise one on 
the other. The first is very rich 
in grain and fruits ; the second 
is barren, abounding in thorns, 
rocks and flints ; the third, though 
higher than this, enjoys a per- 
petual spring, the trees being al- 
ways green, and the orchards 
filled with fruit : it is so agreea- 
ble and fertile, that some have 
called it a terrestrial paradise. 
The fourth is so high as to be al- 
ways covered with snow. Mr. 
Buckingham, who ascended one 
of the highest parts of Lebanon, 
states that it occupied him and 
his companions four hours in 
reaching it, from the place where 
the cedars grow. " From hence 
the view was, as may be easily 
imagined, grand and magnificent. 
To the west we had a prospect 
of all the side of Lebanon down 
to the plain at its foot, and, be- 
yond, a boundless sea, the hori- 
zon of which could not be defin- 
ed, from its being covered with 
a thick bed of clouds. To the 
east we had the valley of the 



Bukkah, which, we could see 
from hence, was on a much higher 
level than the sea; the descent 
to it on the east appearing to be 
about one third less in depth than 
the descent to the plain at the 
foot of Lebanon on the west, 
and scarcely more than half of 
that to the line of the sea. The 
range of Anti-Libanus, which 
forms the eastern boundary of 
the Bukkah, was also covered 
with snow at its summit, but not 
so thickly as at this part of Liba- 
nus where we were, and which 
seemed to us the highest point of 
all. The range of Anti-Libanus, 
though of less height than this, 
completely intercepted our view 
of the country to the eastward 
of it ; although, as before said, 
we were on the highest point of 
view which it admits." 

Mr. Fisk describes Lebanon 
in the following manner : " You 
would like, perhaps, to know how 
mount Lebanon looks. It is not, 
as I used to suppose, one moun- 
tain, but a multitude of moun- 
tains thrown together, and sepa- 
rated by very deep, narrow val- 
leys, which seem to have been 
made merely for the sake of di- 
viding the hills. There are more 
trees on mount Lebanon than on 
the hills of Judea, yet there is 
nothing which Americans would 
call a forest. Most of the trees, 
where I have been, are either 
pines or fruit trees. I have not 
yet seen the cedars. The roads 
are bad, worse and worst ; steep 
and rocky, I presume, beyond 
any thing you ever saw in Ver- 
mont, or any where else. I gen- 
erally ride a mule or an ass, and 
it is often literally riding up and 
down stairs, for a considerable 
distance together. These moun- 
tains present a variety of the 
most rude, sublime and roman- 
tic scenery." (Miss. Her. 1824, 



LEO 



[ 185] 



LEP 



p. 135.) For the cedars of Leba- 
non, see Cedars. 

LEBBEUS, see Judas 2. 

LEEK, a pot-herb resembling 
the onion. The Hebrews com- 
plained in the wilderness, that 
manna grew insipid to them ; 
they long-ed for the leeks and 
onions of Egypt. Hasselquist 
says the karrat, or leek, is sure- 
ly one of those after which the 
Israelites pined ; for it has been 
cultivated in Egypt from time 
immemorial. The favorable sea- 
sons for this plant are winter and 
spring. The Egyptians are ex- 
tremely fond of it. Num. 11:5. 

LEGION. The Roman le- 
gions were composed each of 
ten cohorts, a cohort of fifty 
maniples, and a maniple of fif- 
teen men ; consequently, a full 
legion contained six thousand 
soldiers. But the number \ aried 
at different times. In the time 
of Polybius it was 4200. Jesus 
cured a demoniac who called 
himself " legion," as if possess- 
ed by a legion of devils. Mark 
5:9. 

LENTIL, a species of pulse, 
or kind of bean. We find Esau 
longing for a mess of pottage 
made of lentils. Gen. 25:34. 
Augustin says, " Lentils are 
used as food in Egypt, for this 
plant grows abundantly in that 
country ; which is what renders 
the lentils of Alexandria so valu- 
able, that they are brought from 
thence to us, as if none were 
grown among us." In Barbary, 
Dr. Shaw says, that " lentils 
are dressed in the same manner 
as beans, dissolving easily into a 
mass, and making a pottage of 
a chocolate color." 

LEOPARD, a fierce animal, 
of the feline genus, beautifully 
spotted with a diversity of col- 
ors ; it has small eyes, wide jaws, 
sharp teeth, pound ears, a large 
16* 



tail ; five claws on the fore feet, 
four on those behind. It is said 
to be extremely cruel to man. 
Its name, leo-pard, implies that 
it has something of the lion and 
of the panther in its nature. It 
seems from Scripture, that the 
leopard could not be rare in Pal- 
estine. Isaiah, describing the 
happy reign of the Messiah, 
says, c. 11:6, " The leopard 
shall lie down with the kid, and 
the calf, and the young lion, and 
the fa tling together." The spouse 
in the Canticles speaks of the 
mountains of the leopards, Cant. 
4:8 j that is to say, of mountains 
such as Libanus, Shenir, and 
Hermon, where wild beasts 
dwelt. 

LEPROSY. Moses mentions 
three sorts of leprosy j in men, 
houses and clothes. 

1. Leprosy in men. This dis- 
ease affects the skin, and some- 
times increases in such a man- 
ner, as to produce scurf, scabs 
and violent itchings, and to cor- 
rupt the whole mass of blood. 
At other times it is only a de- 
formity. The Jews regarded 
the leprosy as a disease sent 
from God, and Moses prescribes 
no natural remedy for the cure 
of it. He requires only that the 
diseased person should show him- 
self to the priest, and that the 
priest should judge of his lepro- 
sy ; if it appeared to be a real 
leprosy, capable of being com- 
municated to others, he separated 
the leper from the company of 
mankind. He appoints certain 
sacrifices and particular ceremo- 
nies for the purification of a leper, 
and for restoring him to society. 
The marks which Moses gives 
for the belter distinguishing a 
leprosy, are signs of the increase 
of this disease. Lev. c. 13. An 
outward swelling, a pimple, a 
white spot, bright, and some- 



LEP 



[ 186] 



LET 



what reddish, created just suspi- 
cions of a man's being attacked 
with it. When a bright spot, 
something reddish or whitish, ap- 
peared, and the hair of that place 
was of a pale red, and the place 
itself something deeper than the 
rest of the skin, this was a cer- 
tain mark of leprosy. Those 
who have treated of this disease, 
have made the same remarks, 
but have distinguished a recent 
leprosy from one already formed 
and become inveterate. A re- 
cent leprosy may be healed ; but 
an inveterate one is incurable. 
Travellers who have seen lepers 
in the East, say, that the dis- 
ease attacks principally the feet. 
Maundrell, who had seen lepers 
in Palestine, says, that their feet 
are swelled like those of ele- 
phants, or horses' feet swelled 
with the farcy. 

The leprosy exhibits itself on 
the exterior surface of the skin, 
but it infects, at the same time, 
the marrow and the bones ; so 
much so that the farthest joints in 
the system gradually lose their 
powers, and the members fall to- 
gether in such a manner, as to 
give the body a mutilated and 
dreadful appearance. From these 
circumstances, there can be no 
doubt that the disease originates 
and spreads its ravages internal- 
ly, before it makes its appear- 
ance on the external parts of the 
body. Indeed, we have reason 
to believe, that it is concealed in 
the internal parts of the system a 
number of years, for instance, in 
infants commonly till they arrive 
at the age of puberty, and in 
adults as many as three or four 
years, till at last it gives the fear- 
ful indications on the skin, of 
having already gained a well- 
rooted and permanent existence. 
Its progress subsequently to its 
appearance on the external sur- 



face of the body is far from be- 
ing rapid; in a number of years 
it arrives at its middle, and in a 
number after to its final, state. A 
person who is leprous from his 
nativity may live fifty years ; one 
who in after life is infected with 
it may live twenty years; but 
they will be such years of dread- 
ful misery as rarely fall to the 
lot of man in any other situation. 

2. The leprosy of houses, men- 
tioned in Lev. 14:34, &c. must 
have been known to the Israelites, 
who had lived in Egypt, and 
must have been common in the 
land of Canaan, whither they 
were going ; since Moses speaks 
of it as not a new thing to them. 
Might it be similar to the dry- 
rot in timber ? Or, rather, it 
arose more probably from the ef- 
fects of saltpetre, which shows 
itself in greenish or reddish spots 
on the walls of stone houses, and 
spreads wider and wider. In the 
long run it injures the walls ; and 
at all times corrupts the air and 
is injurious to the health. Hence 
the propriety of the strict regula- 
tions of Moses. 

3. Tfie leprosy in clothes is also 
noticed by Moses, as common in 
his time. He says, if any green- 
ish or red spots be observed on 
any woollen or linen stuffs, or on 
any thing made of skin, they shall 
be carried to the priest, who shall 
shut them up for seven days ; and 
if, at the end of this time, the 
spots increase, and spread, he 
shall burn them, as infected with 
a real leprosy. It was probably 
a mould or mildew arising from 
dampness. Lev. 13:47, &c. 

LETTERS. The Hebrews 
have certain acrostic verses, 
which begin with the letters of 
the alphabet, ranged in order. 
The most considerable of these 
is Psalm 119, which contains 
twenty-two stanzas of eight verses 






LEV 



.[ 187 ] 



LEV 



eacn, all acrostic; that ia, the 
first eight begin with Aleph, the 
next eight with Beth, and so on. 
Other Psalms, as Ps. 25, 34, have 
but twenty-two verses each, be- 
ginning with one of the twenty- 
two letters of the Hebrew alpha- 
bet. Others, as Ps. Ill, 112, have 
one half of the verse beginning 
with one letter, and the other 
half with another. Thus : — 

Blessed is the man who feareth the 
Lord, 

Who delighteth greatly in his com- 
mandments. 

The first half of the verse begins 
in the Hebrew with Aleph ; the 
second with Beth. The Lamen- 
tations of Jeremiah are also in 
acrostic verse, as well as the 
thirty-first chapter of Proverbs, 
from the eighth verse to the end. 
LEVI, the third son of Jacob 
and Leah, was born in Mesopo- 
tamia. Gen. 29: 34. The tribe of 
Levi was, according to Jacob's 

frediction, scattered over all 
srael, having no share in the di- 
vision of Canaan, but certain 
cities in the portions of other 
tribes. It was not the worse 
provided for, however, since 
God chose the tribe for the ser- 
vice of the temple and priesthood, 
and bestowed on it many privi- 
leges above the other tribes, in 
dignity, and in the advantages of 
lite. All the tithes, first-fruits and 
offerings, presented at the temple, 
as well as several parts of all the 
victims that were offered, belong- 
ed to the tribe of Levi. (See Le- 
vites.) — The apostle Matthew 
was also called Levi. See Mat- 
thew. 

LEVIATHAN, an aquatic 
monster described in the book of 
Job, c. 41. It is doubtless a name 
for the crocodile, the terror of the 
Nile ; as behemoth, in c. 40, is the 
hippopotamus of the same river. 



The crocodile is a native in- 
habitant of the Nile, and other 
Asiatic and African rivers ; of 
enormous voracity and strength, 
as well as fleetness in swimming ; 
attacks mankind and the largest 
animals, with most daring impetu- 
osity ; when taken by means of 
a powerful net, will often over- 
turn the boats that surround it; 
has, proportionally, the largest 
mouth of all monsters whatever j 
moves both its jaws alike, the 
upper of which has not less than 
forty, and the lower thirty-eight, 
sharp, but strong and massy, 
teeth ; and is furnished with a 
coat of mail so scaly and callous, 
as to resist the force of a musket- 
ball in every part, except under 
the belly. The general charac- 
ter of the leviathan, in fact, seems 
so well to apply to this animal, 
in modern as well as in ancient 
times, the terror of all the coasts 
and countries about the Nile, that 
it is unnecessary to seek further. 

The following extract of a let- 
ter from an American gentleman 
in Manilla, dated October 6, 1831, 
gives a graphic view of the 
strength and size of the croco- 
dile : " I resided on a large plan- 
tation on the lake, about thirty 
miles in the interior, and was 
treated with the utmost attention 
and hospitality. I bunted deer 
and wild boar with much success. 
My last operation in the sporting 
line, was no less than killing an 
alligator or crocodile ; which for 
a year or two before had infested 
a village on the borders of the 
lake, taking off horses and cows, 
and sometimes a man. Having 
understood that he had killed a 
horse a day or two before, and 
had taken him into a small river, 
I proceeded to the spot, which 
was distant, accompanied by my 
host, closed the mouth of the 
river with strong nets, and at- 



LEV 



[188] 



LEV 



tacked the huge brute with guns 
and spears. After something of 
a desperate battle, we succeeded 
in driving him against the nets, 
where, being considerably ex- 
hausted by the wounds he had 
received from balls and lances, 
he got entangled, was dragged 
on shore, and the coup de grace 
given to him. He measured 
twenty feet in length, and from 
eleven to thirteen feet in circum- 
ference, the smallest part being 
eleven and the largest thirteen. 
The head alone weighed two 
hundred and seventy-five pounds. 
He had nearly the whole of the 
horse in him, and the legs, with 
the hoofs, were taken out entire." 
LEVITES. All the descend- 
ants of Levi may be comprised 
under this name ; but chiefly 
those who were employed in the 
lower services in the temple, by 
which they were distinguished 
from the priests, who were of the 
race of Levi by Aaron, and 
were employed in higher offices. 
The Levites were the descend- 
ants of Levi by Gershom, Ko- 
hath and Merari, excepting only 
the family of Aaron ; for the 
children of Moses had no part in 
the priesthood, and were only 
common Levites. God chose 
the Levites instead of the first- 
born of all Israel for the service 
of his tabernacle and temple. 
Numb. 3:6, &c. They obeyed 
the priests in the ministrations of 
the temple, and sung and played 
en instruments in the daily ser- 
vices, &c. They studied the 
law, and were the ordinar}' judges 
of the country 5 but subordinate 
to the priests. God provided for 
the subsistence of the Levites, 
by giving to them the tithe of 
corn, fruit and cattle; but they 
paid to the priests the tenth of 
their tithes ; and as the Levites 
possessed no estates in land, the 



tithes which the priests received 
from them were considered as the 
first-fruits which they were to 
offer to the Lord. Numb. 18: 
21—24. 

God assigned for the habita- 
tion of the Levites forty-eight 
cities, with fields, pastures and 
gardens. Numb. c. 35. Of 
these, thirteen were given to the 
priests, six of which were cities 
of refuge. Josh. 20:7. 21:19, 
&c. While the Levites were ac- 
tually employed in the temple, 
they were supported out of the 
provisions kept in store there, 
and out of the daily offerings. 
See Deut. 12:18,19. 18:6—8. 
The consecration of Levites was 
without much ceremony. See 
Numb. 8:5, &c. 2 Chr. 29:34. 

The Levites wore no peculiar 
habit to distinguish them from 
other Israelites, till the time of 
Agrippa, whose innovation in 
this matter is mentioned by Jose- 
phus, who remarks, that the an- 
cient customs of the country 
were never forsaken with impu- 
nity- 

The Levites were divided into 
different classes ; the Gershom- 
ites, Kohalhites, Merarites and 
the Aaronites, or priests. Numb. 
3 : 14, &c. They were not to en- 
ter upon their service at the tab- 
ernacle till they were twenty-five 
years of age, Numb. 8:24; or, 
as in c. 4:3, from thirty to fifty 
years old. But David fixed the 
time of service at twenty years. 
The priests and Levites waited 
by turns, weekly in the temple. 
1 Chr. c. 23,24. 2 Chr. 23:4,8. 
31:17. Ezra 3:8. 

LEVITICUS, the third book 
in the Pentateuch ; called Leviti- 
cus, because it contains princi- 
pally the laws and regulations re- 
lating to the priests, Levites and 
sacrifices. The Hebrews call it 
" the priests' law." This book 



LIB 



[189] 



LIL 






is generally held to be the work 
of Moses, though probably assist- 
ed by Aaron. It contains the 
history of the eight days' conse- 
cration of Aaron and his sons. 

LIBERTINES, Synagogue of 
the, Acts 6:9. This word is 
from the Latin libertinus, which 
signifies a freedman, i. e. one 
who, having been a slave, either 
by birth or capture, has obtained 
his freedom 5 or one born of a 
parent who was a freedman. 
This synagogue of the Libertines 
obviously stands connected with 
the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, 
both of which were of African 
origin ; it is, therefore, supposed 
by some, that the Libertines were 
of African origin also. It is, how- 
ever, most probably spoken of 
Jews who had been taken captive 
by the Romans in war, and car- 
ried to Rome ; and having there 
been manumitted, were accus- 
tomed to visit Jerusalem in such 
numbers as to erect a synagogue 
for their particular usej as was the 
case with Jews from other cities 
mentioned in the context. Others 
think them to have been the pos- 
terity of Jews who had been car- 
ried into Egypt and Libya by the 
Ptolemies or Pompey, and after- 
wards made free citizens of the 
places where they dwelt. Others 
suppose them to have been Jews 
who inhabited a city or tract 
called Libertum, somewhere in 
Africa proconsularis ; but there 
is no notice of the existence of 
any such city or region. 

LIBYA, a region of Africa, 
lying west of Egypt, on the 
southern coast of the Mediterra- 
nean. Acts 2:10. In the time 
of the Romans, it was divided into 
three parts, viz. Libya Marmari- 
ca, which lay adjacent to Egypt} 
Libya Cyrenaica, so called from 
its chief city Cyrene, and lying 
farther west upon the coast ; and 



Libya Proper, which lay south of 
the other two divisions, and ex- 
tended back indefinitely into the 
deserts. The division called Cy- 
renaica was also called Pentap- 
olis, from the five cities which it 
contained, viz. Apollonia, Arsi- 
noe, Berenice, Cyrene, Ptole- 
mais. In all these cities there 
dwelt great numbers of Jews. 

LICE are said to have been 
one of the plagues of Egypt. 
Ex. 8 : 16. Most probably, how- 
ever, the Hebrew word means 
gnats. Species of very small 
stinging gnats abound in the low 
grounds of Egypt. 

LIGN-ALOES, see Aloes. 

LILY, called in Hebrew shu- 
shan. There are lilies of differ- 
ent colors, white, red, yellow and 
orange-colored. They were com- 
mon in Judea, and grew in the 
open fields. " Consider the lilies 
of the field," says Christ, Matt. 
6 :28, " how they grow 5 they toil 
not, neither do they spin } yet I 
say unto you that Solomon in all 
his glory was not arrayed like 
one of these." It is, however, 
supposed by some, and is not 
improbable, that the lily men- 
tioned in Scripture, and es- 
pecially in Canticles, is the crown 
imperial ; that is, the Persk.n lily, 
the tusai of the Persians, the royal 
lily, or lilium basileiuwt of "the 
Greeks. In reality, it appears 
from the Canticles, that the lily 
spoken of by Solomon was red, 
and distilled a certain liquor. 
Cant. 5:13. There are crown 
imperials with yellow flowers ; 
but those with red are the most 
common. They are always bent 
downwards, and disposed in the 
manner of a crown at the extrem- 
ity of the stem, which has a tuft 
of leaves at the top. At the 
bottom of each leaf of this flower 
is a certain watery humor, form 
ing, as it were, a very white pearl, 



LOG 



[190] 



LOC 



which gradually distils very clear 
and pure drops of water. This 
water is probably what the spouse 
in the Canticles called myrrh. 

LINEN, Heb. bad, the produce 
of a well-known plant, flax, whose 
bark serves to make fine linen 
clothes. Another sort of linen 
Scripture calls shesh, Gen. 41 :42, 
and at a later period bats, Greek 
byssus, 1 Chr. 15:27. Esth. 1:6. 
This, however, is strictly the fine 
Egyptian cotton, and the white 
cloth made from it. This cloth, 
so celebrated in ancient times, is 
still found wrapped around mum- 
mies ; aud appears to have been 
about of the texture and quality 
of the ordinary cotton sheeting 
of the present day. Both these 
Hebrew words signify originally 
white. See Flax. 

LINUS, a Christian mentioned 
by Paul, 2 Tim. 4:21, and whom 
Irenaeus, Eusebius, Augustin, Je- 
rome and others affirm to have 
succeeded Peter as bishop of 
Rome. 

LION, a well-known and noble 
beast, frequently spoken of in 
Scripture. It was common in 
Palestine, and the Hebrews have 
seven words to signify the lion in 
different ages ; though the dis- 
tinction is by no means always 
observed. See under Jordan. 
" The lion of the tribe of Judah," 
Rev. 5:5, is Jesus Christ, who 
sprung from the tribe of Judah, 
and the race of David, and over- 
came death, the world and the 
devil. It is supposed by some 
that a lion was the device of the 
tribe of Judah, whence this allu- 
sion. Comp. Gen. 49:9. 

LOCUST, a voracious insect, 
belonging to the grasshopper or 
grylli genus, and a great scourge 
in oriental countries. On many 
occasions the locust has been 
employed by the Almighty to 
chastise mankind for their sins. 



A swarm of locusts was among 
the plagues of Egypt, when they 
covered the whole land, so that 
the earth was darkened j and 
they devoured every green herb 
of the earth, and the fruit of every 
tree which the hail had left. Ex. 
10:12, &c. But the most par- 
ticular description of this insect, 
and of its destructive career, 
mentioned in the sacred writings, 
is to be found in Joel 2 : 3 — 10. 
This is, perhaps, one of th? most 
striking and animated descrip- 
tions to be met with in the whole 
compass of prophecy. The con- 
texture of the passage is extremely 
curious 3 and the double destruc- 
tion to be produced by locusts and 
the enemies of which they were 
the harbingers, is painted with 
the most expressive force, and 
described with the most terrible 
accuracy. We may fancy the 
destroying army to be moving 
before us while we read, and 
imagine that we see the desola- 
tion spreading. It should also 
be mentioned that the four insects 
mentioned in Joel 1:4, the palm- 
er-worm, the locust, the canker- 
worm and the caterpillar, are 
strictly, according to the Hebrew, 
only different species of locusts j 
some, perhaps, without wings, 
as mentioned below. The fol- 
lowing extracts from Dr. Shaw 
and Mr. Morier, which are also 
corroborated by Niebuhr, Burck- 
hardt, and other travellers, may 
serve as a commentary upon this 
and other passages of Scripture. 
Dr. Shaw remarks : " I never 
observed the mantes (a kind of 
locusts) to be gregarious ; but 
the locusts, properly so called, 
which are so frequently mention- 
ed by sacred as well as profane 
authors, are somPtimes so beyond 
expression. Those which I saw, 
A. D. 1724 and 1725, were much 
bigger than our common grass- 



LOC 



[191 ] 



LOC 



hoppers, and had brown spotted 
wings, with legs and bodies of a 
bright yellow. Their first ap- 
pearance was towards the latter 
end of March, the wind having 
been some time from the south. 
Ir the middle of April, their num- 
bers were so vastly increased, 
that in the heat of the day they 
formed themselves into large and 
numerous swarms, flew in the air 
like a succession of clouds, and, 
as the prophet Joel expresses it, 
they darkened the sun. When 
the wind blew briskly, so that 
these swarms were crowded by 
others, or thrown one upon 
another, we had a lively idea of 
that comparison of the psalmist, 
Ps. 109:23, of being tossed up 
and down as the locust. In the 
month of May, when the ovaries 
of these insects were ripe and 
turgid, each of these swarms be- 
gan gradually to disappear, and 
retired into the 31etijiah and other 
adjacent plains, where they de- 
posited their eggs. These were 
no sooner hatched, in June, than 
each of the broods collected itself 
into a compact body of a furlong 
or more square, and marching 
afterwards directly forward to- 
wards the sea, they let nothing 
escape them ; eating up every 
thing that was green and juicy, 
not only the lesser kinds of vege- 
tables, but the vine likewise, the 
fig-tree, the 'pomegranate, the 
■palm, and the apple-tree, even all 
the trees of the field, Joel 1 : 12 ; in 
doing which, they kept their 
ranks like men of war, climbing 
over, as they advanced, every 
tree or wall that was in their way; 
nay, they entered into our very 
houses and bed-chambers like 
thieves. The inhabitants, to stop 
their progress, made a variety of 
pits and trenches all over their 
fields and gardens, which they 
filled with water; or else they 



heaped up therein heath, stubble, 
and such like combustible matter, 
which were severally set on fire 
upon the approach of the locusts. 
But this was all to no purpose, 
for the trenches were quickly 
rilled up, and the fires extinguish- 
ed by infinite swarms succeeding 
one another, whilst the front was 
regardless of danger, and the rear 
pressed on so close, that a retreat 
was altogether impossible. A 
day or two after one of these 
broods was in motion, others 
were already hatched to march 
and glean after them, gnawing 
off the very bark and the young 
branches of such trees as had 
before escaped with the loss only 
of their fruit and foliage. So 
justly have they been compared 
by the prophet to a great army ; 
who further observes, that the 
land is as the garden of Eden 
before them, and behind them a 
desolate wilderness." 

Mr. Morier says, " On the 11th 
of June, while sea ted in our tents 
about noon, we heard a very un- 
usual noise, that sounded like the 
rustling of a great wind at a dis- 
tance. On looking up, we per- 
ceived an immense cloud, here 
and there semi-transparent, in 
other parts quite black, that 
spread itself all over the sky, and 
at intervals shadowed the sun. 
These we soon found to be lo- 
custs, whole swarms of them 
falling about us. These were of 
a red color, and I should suppose 
are the red predatory locusts, 
one of the Egyptian plagues ; 
they are also the ' great grass- 
hopper/ mentioned by the 
prophet Nahum ; no doubt in 
contradistinction to the lesser, c. 
3 : 17. As soon as they appeared, 
the gardeners and husbandmen 
made loud shouts, to prevent 
their settling on their grounds 
It is to this custom that the 



LOC 



[ 192 ] 



LOC 



let Jeremiah, perhaps, al- 
ludes, when he says, ' Surely I 
will fill thee with men, as with 
caterpillars, and they shall lift up 
a shout against thee.' c. 51 : 14. 
They seemed to be impelled by 
one common instinct, and moved 
in one body, which had the ap- 

Cearance of being- organized 
y a leader. Joel 2:7. Their 
strength must be very great, if 
we consider what immense jour- 
neys they have been known to 
make." 

In Matt. 3:4, it is said of John 
the Baptist, that " his meat was 
locusts and wild honey." Some 
interpreters have stumbled here 
at the word locusts ; but it is not 
therefore the less true that locusts 
are eaten in the East even to the 
present day. Niebuhr remarks 
that " it is no more inconceivable 
to Europeans, that the Arabs 
should eat locusts with relish, 
than it is incredible to the Arabs, 
who have had no intercourse with 
Christians, that the latter should 
regard oysters, lobsters, &c. as 
delicacies. Nevertheless, one is 
just as certain as the other. Lo- 
custs are brought to market on 
strings, in all the cities of Ara- 
bia, from Babelmandeb to Bas- 
sorah. On mount Sumara I saw 
an Arab who had collected a 
whole sack-full of them. They 
are prepared in different ways. 
An Arab in Egypt, of whom we 
requested that he would immedi- 
ately eat locusts in our presence, 
threw them upon the glowing 
coals ; and after he supposed 
they were roasted enough, he 
took them by the legs and head, 
and devoured the remainder at 
one mouthful. When the Arabs 
have them in quantities, they 
roast or dry them in an oven, or 
boil them and eat them with salt. 
The Arabs in the kingdom of 
Morocco boil the locusts, and 



then dry tnem on the roofs of 
their houses One sees there 
large baskets-full of them in the 
markets." 

Burckhardt also relates the 
fact in a similar manner : " The 
Bedouins eat locusts/which are 
collected in great quantities in 
the beginning of April, when 
they are easily caught. After 
having been roasted a little upon 
the iron plate on which bread is 
baked, they are dried in the sun, 
and then put into large sacks, 
with the mixture of a little salt. 
They are never served up as a 
dish, but every one takes a hand- 
ful of them when hungry. The 
peasants of Syria do not eat lo- 
custs ; nor have I myself ever had 
an opportunity of tasting them. 
There are a few poor Fellahs 
in the Haouran, however, who 
sometimes, pressed by hunger, 
make a meal of them ; but they 
break off the head and take out 
the entrails before they dry them 
in the sun. The Bedouins swal- 
low them entire." 

After these statements, there 
can surely be no difficulty in ad- 
mitting " locusts" to have been 
the food of John the Baptist. 

In Rev. 9:7—10, there is a 
terrific description of symbolical 
locusts, in which they are com- 
pared to war horses, their hair 
to the hair of women, &c. The 
following passage from Niebuhr 
is parallel to this description, and 
serves strikingly to illustrate it : 
'* An Arab of the desert near 
Bassorah, informed me of a sin- 
gular comparison of the locust 
with other animals. The terrible 
locust of Rev. c. 9 not then oc- 
curring to me, I regarded this 
comparison as a jest of the Be- 
douin, and I paid no attention to 
it, till it was repeated by another 
from Bagdad. It was thus : — 
He compared the head of the 



LOT 



[193] 



LUC 



locust to that of the horse ; its 
breast to that of the lion ; its 
feet to those of the camel ; its 
body to that of the serpent ; its 
tail to that of the scorpion ; its 
horns \antennaz\, if I mistake 
not, to the locks of hair of a 
virgin ; and so of other parts." 
In Tike manner, the Italians still 
call locusts cavallette, i. e. little 
horses ; and the Germans call 
them Heupferde, i. e. hay-horses. 

LOG, a Hebrew measure for 
liquids, which held five sixths of 
a pint. Lev. 14:10,12,24. 

LOOKING-GLASS, see La- 

VER. 

LORD. This name belongs 
to God by preeminence ; and 
in this sense ought never to be 
given to any creature. Jesus 
Christ, as the Messiah, the Son 
of God, and equal with the 
Father, is often called Lord in 
Scripture ; more especially in 
the writings of Paul. The word 
Lord, in the English Bible, 
when printed in small capitals, 
stands always for Jehovah in the 
Hebrew. See Jehovah. 

LOT, the son of Haran, and 
nephew of Abraham, followed 
his uncle from Ur, and after- 
wards from Haran, to settle in 
Canaan. Gen. 11:31. Abra- 
ham had always a great affection 
for him, and when they could not 
continue longer together in Ca- 
naan, because they both had 
large flocks, and their shepherds 
sometimes quarrelled, Gen. 13:5, 
6, 7, he gave Lot the choice of 
his abode. Lot ehose the plain 
of Sodom, which appears then 
to have been the most fertile part 
of the land. Here he continued 
to dwell till the destruction of 
Sodom and the adjacent cities. 
The close of his history is con- 
tained in Gen. 19:31, Sec. 

LOTS are often mentioned 
in Scripture, and were directed 
17 



by God to be sometimes used, 
as in the case of the scape goat. 
So after the death of Judas, 
another apostle was chosen by 
lot. Acts 1:26. 

The manner of casting lots is 
not described in the Scriptures j 
but several methods appear to 
have been used. Solomon ob- 
serves, Prov. 16 : 33, that " the 
lot," pebble, " is cast into the 
lap," properly into the bosom, 
that is, probably, of an urn or 
vase; which leads to a very 
different idea from the lap of a 
person : yet, had our translators 
used the word bosom, which is a 
more frequent and correct import 
of the word, they would have 
equally misled the reader, had 
that bosom been referred to a 
person ; for it does not appear 
that the bosom of a person, that 
is, of a garment worn by a per- 
son, was ever used to receive 
lots. But probably several 
modes of drawing lots, or of 
casting lots, were practised. 

LOWER PARTS of the 
earth are, (1.) Valleys, which 
diversify the face of the globe, 
and are evidently lower than 
hills, which also contribute to 
that diversity. Isa. 44:23. 
(2.) The grave, which, being 
dug into the earth, or into 
rocks, &c. may be called the 
lower part of the earth, or that 
portion of it which is usually 
opened to men : this is sometimes 
called the deep, or abyss; and, 
indeed, it is secluded from our 
cognizance, till we are called to 
visit " that bourn from whence 
no traveller returns." Ps. 63:9. 
Eph. 4:9. 

LUCAS, the same with Luke, 
which see. 

LUCIFER. " How art thou 
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, 
son of the morning ! how art 
thou cut down to the ground, 



LUK 



[194] 



LYD 



which didst weaken the nations !" 
Isa. 14:12. This is the only 
place where the word Lucifer 
occurs in the English Bible, and 
it is here evidently applied to the 
king of Babylon. The word 
signifies light-giver, and is the 
Latin epithet of the planet Ve- 
nus, or the morning star,— a 
meaning which is also here ex- 
pressly assigned to it by the 
phrase " son of the morning." 
A brilliant star, and especially 
the morning star, is often put as 
the emblem of a mighty prince. 
Num. 24:17. In Rev. 2:28, it is 
said of Christ, " I will give him 
(cause him to be) the morning 
star 3" and in Rev. 22 : 16, Christ 
says of himself, " I am the bright 
and morning star." The Arabs, 
also, call a prince, the star of a 
people. 

Tertullian and Gregory the 
Great understood this passage in 
Isaiah of the fall of Satan ; and 
from this circumstance, the name 
Lucifer has since been applied to 
Satan. This is now the usual 
acceptation of the word. 

LUCIUS of Cyrene, men- 
tioned Acts 13:1, was one of the 
prophets of the Christian church 
at Antioch. He is supposed, by 
many, to be the same with the 
evangelist Luke ; but of this 
there is no certain evidence. 

LUKE, the evangelist, proba- 
bly the same person who is 
called by St. Paul, "the beloved 
physician." Col. 4:14. The 
name Luke is contracted from 
the Latin Lucanus. Luke was 
the writer of the Gospel which 
bears his name, and of the Acts 
of the Apostles 5 having been 
the friend and companion of St. 
Paul in most of the journeys re- 
corded in the latter book. It is 
not improbable that he was born 
of gentile parents. The stories 
which are told of him, as deriv- 



ing his origin from Antioch, and 
as having been one of the sev- 
enty disciples sent out by Jesus, 
are without foundation, and arose 
in part, perhaps, from confound- 
ing him with the Lucius men- 
tioned in Acts 13:1. Equally 
groundless is the supposition of 
a later age, that he was a painter. 
He is mentioned by name only in 
2 Tim. 4: 11. Phil. 24. Col. 4: 14. 

LUNATICS, a name given 
to those diseased persons, who 
suffer most severely on the 
changes of the moon ; for exam- 
ple, epileptical persons, or those 
who have the falling sickness j 
insane persons, or those tor- 
mented with fits of morbid mel- 
ancholy. 

LYCAONIA, a region of Asia 
Minor, bounded north by Galatia, 
east by Cappadocia and Catao- 
nia, south by Isauria and Cilicia, 
and west by Phrygia. It ap- 
pears to have been within the 
limits of Phrygia Major, but 
was erected into a Roman prov- 
ince by Augustus. In the north- 
ern part of this region is a long 
salt lake, called anciently Tatta, 
now Tuzla. The country is 
level, but not fertile ; though, in 
consequence of the saltness of 
the soil, it was peculiarly adapted 
to pasturage. Of its cities, Ico- 
nium, Derbe and Lystra are 
mentioned in the N. T. Acts 
14:6. It now forms part of the 
Turkish province of Caramania. 

LYCIA, a province in the 
south-west extremity of Asia Mi- 
nor, bounded west by Caria, east 
by Pamphylia, north by Phrygia 
and Pisidia, and south and 
south-west by the Mediterranean. 
The country is somewhat moun- 
tainous, though not barren. Of 
its cities, only Patara is men- 
tioned in the N. T. Acts 27:5. 

LYDDA, in Hebrew Lud, 
and by the Greeks called Di- 



MAC 



[195] 



MAG 



ospolis, was a city a short 
distance east of Joppa, on the 
way to Jerusalem. There was 
here a celebrated Jewish school, 
after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, where the famous Rabbi 
Akiba was for some time a 
teacher. Here Peter healed 
Eneas. Acts 9:33,34. This 
city was situated in the midst of 
fine and extensive plains, the 
soil of which is a rich black 
mould, that might be rendered 
exceeding-ly fertile. Lydda is at 
present only a miserable village. 
LYDIA, a woman of Thyati- 



ra, a seller of purple, who dwelt 
" Philippi in Mace- 
donia, Acts 16:14,40, and was 



in the city T of Philipf 



converted by Paul's preaching*. 
After she and her family had 
been baptized, she offered her 
house to Paul and his feliow la- 
borer so earnestly, that he was 
prevailed on by her entreaties. 
This woman was not by birth a 
Jewess, but a proselyte. 

LYSANIAS, see Abilene. 

LYSTRA, a city of Lyca- 
onia, and the native place of 
Timothy. It is now called Latik. 
Acts 16:1 



M. 



MAACHAH, or Beth-Maa- 
chah, a city and region of Syria, 
east and north of the sources of 
Jordan, not far from Geshur, at 
the foot of mount Herman. It was 
called also Abel-beth-viaachah. 
The Israelites would not destroy 
the Maachathites, but permitted 
them to dwell in the land, Josh. 
13:13, and their king assisted 
the Ammonites against David. 
2 Sam. 10:8. The lot of the half- 
tribe of Manasseh beyond Jor- 
dan extended to this country. 
Deut. 3:14. Josh. 12:5. 

MACEDONIA, a large coun- 
try and region lying north of 
Greece proper, bounded south 
by Thessaly and Epirus, east by 
Thrace and the iEgean sea, west 
by the Adriatic sea and Illyria, 
and north by Dardania and Mce- 
sia. Its principal rivers were the 
Strymon and Axius. Its most 
celebrated mountains were 
Olympus and Alhos ; the former 
renowned in heathen mythology 
as the residence of the gods, 
lying on the confines of Thessaly, 
and principally within that state; 
the latter being at the extremity 



: promontory which juts out 
the iEgean sea, and noted 



of a 

into 

in modern times as the seat of 
several monasteries, in which are 
many manuscripts supposed to 
be valuable. The Macedonians, 
under Philip and Alexander the 
Great, subdued Greece, and be- 
came one of the most powerful 
nations of antiquity. They af- 
terwards became enfeebled, and 
were at length conquered by the 
Romans under Paulus ^Emilius, 
who divided their country into 
four districts. The Romans af- 
terwards divided the whole of 
Greece and Macedonia into two 
great provinces, which they 
called Macedonia and Achaia. 
(See under Greece.) In the 
N. T. the name is probably to be 
taken in this latter sense. Of 
the cities of Macedonia proper, 
there are mentioned in the N. T. 
Amphipolis, Apollonia, Berea, 
Philippi and Thessalonica. Acts 
16:9,10,12, &c. 

MAGDALA, a city or place 
situated probably in the limits of 
the tribe of Issachar, on the 
western side of the lake Gennes 



MAH 



1196] 



MAM 



aret, not far from Capernaum 
and Gamala. It was the resi- 
dence of Mary Magdalene. Its 
position, however, is uncertain. 
Matt. 15:39. 

MAGI, or Wise Men, who 
came to adore Jesus at Bethle- 
hem, Matt. 2:1, are commonly 
supposed to have been philoso- 
phers, whose chief study was 
astronomy, and who dwelt in 
Arabia Deserta, or Mesopotamia, 
which the sacred authors express 
by the word East. This name, 
Magi, is properly an appellation 
given, among the Persians, to 
priests, wise men, philosophers, 
&c. who devoted themselves to 
the study of the moral and phys- 
ical sciences, and particularly 
cultivated astrology and medi- 
cine. As they thus acquired 
great honor and influence, they 
were introduced into the courts 
of kings and consulted on all 
occasions. They also followed 
them in warlike expeditions ; and 
so much importance was attached 
to their advice and opinions, that 
nothing was attempted without 
their approbation. 

MAGIC means, in the Bible, 
all the superstitious ceremonies 
of magicians, sorcerers, enchant- 
ers, necromancers, exorcists, as- 
trologers, soothsayers, inter- 
preters of dreams, fortune-tellers, 
casters of nativities, &c. which 
are all forbidden by the law of 
God, whether practised to hurt 
or to benefit mankind. It was 
also forbidden to consult ma- 

ficians on pain of death. Lev. 
9:31. 20:6. See Sorcerer, 
and Inchantments. 

MAGOG, see Gog. 

MAHER-SHALAL-HASH- 
BAZ, he hasteneth to the prey, a 
name given to one of the sons 
of the prophet Isaiah, by way 
of prediction. Isa. 8:3. The 
prophet observes that his chil- 



dren were for signs and wonders, 
and this name is evidence of the 
fact. Of the same nature we 
are to consider Emmanuel, and 
some other names. 

MALACHI, the last of the 
twelve minor prophets, and so 
little known, that it is doubted by 
some whether his name be a 
proper name, or only a generical 
one, signifying the angel of the 
Lord, 1. e. a messenger, a proph- 
et. It appears by Hag. 1 : 13, 
and M al. 3:1, that in those times 
the name of Malach- Jehovah, 
messenger of the Lord, was 
given to prophets. Malachi 
most probably prophesied under 
Nehemiah, and after Haggai and 
Zechariah, at a time of great 
disorder among the priests and 
people of Judah, whom he re- 
proves. He inveighs against the 
priests 5 reproves the people for 
having taken strange wives, for 
inhumanity to their brethren, for 
too frequently divorcing their 
wives, and for neglect of paying 
tithes and first-fruits. He seems 
to allude to the covenant that Ne- 
hemiah renewed with the Lord, 
together with the priests and 
the chief of the nation. Malachi 
is the last of the prophets of the 
synagogue, and lived about 400 
years before Christ. He proph- 
esied of the coming of John the 
Baptist, and of the twofold coming 
of our Saviour, very clearly, c. 3. 

MALLOWS, in Job 30:4, is 
put for the Hebrew word which 
signifies the plant arach, or 
or/'ch, the atriplex halimus of 
Linnaeus. It somewhat resem- 
bles lettuce, and its young leaves 
are used in the East, either green 
or boiled, as food, by the poor. 

MAMMON, a Chaldee word 
signifying riches. Our Saviour 
says, we cannot at the same time 
serve God and mammon, Matt. 
6 : 24 ; that we ought not to make 



MAN 



[197] 



MAN 



ourselves adherents of mammon, 
that is, of worldly riches, which 
are commonly the instruments of 
sin, and are acquired too often 
by unrighteousness and iniquity. 
MAN OF SIN, see Anti- 
christ. 

I. MANASSEH, the eldest 
son of Joseph, born in Egypt. 
His descendants constituted a 
half tribe. This was divided in 
the promised land ; one part 
having settled east of the Jordan, 
in the country of Bashan, from 
the river Jabbok northwards 3 and 
the other west of the Jordan, be- 
tween Ephraim and Issachar, 
extending from the Jordan to 
the Mediterranean. Gen. 41 : 50, 
61. Josh. c. 16, 17. 

II. MANASSEH, the son and 
impious successor of the good 
Hezekiah, king of Judah. He 
began to reign at twelve years old, 
B. C. 694. and reigned fifty-five 
years. For his impiety and cru- 
elties, God suffered him to be car- 
ried as a prisoner to Babylon ; but 
he was restored, and died at Jeru- 
salem. See 2K. 20:21. c. 21. 
2 Chr. c. 33. 

MANDRAKES are put for 
the Heb. dndalm. The man- 
drakes of the Bible have given 
rise to much dispute and diversi- 
ty of opinion among interpreters. 
It seems to have been a plant to 
which was attributed the power 
of rendering barren women fruit- 
ful. According to most of the 
ancient versions, it was the man- 
dragora, mandrake, (atropa 
mandragora of Linn.) a plant of 
the genus belladonna, with a 
root like a beet, white and red- 
dish blossoms, and yellow apples, 
which ripen from May to July. 
To these apples, the orientals to 
this day attribute the power of 
exciting to venery ; and they 
are called poma amatoria, or 
love-apples. 

17* 



From Gen. 30:14,15,16, we 
collect that the fruit was ripe in, 
wheat harvest. And thus Has- 
selquist, speaking of Nazareth 
in Galilee, says, " What I found 
most remarkable at this village, 
was the great number of man- 
drakes which grew in a vale be- 
low it. I had not the pleasure 
to see this plant in blossom, the 
fruit now (May 5th, O. S.) hang- 
ing ripe on the stem, which lay 
withered on the ground. From 
the season in which the man- 
drake blossoms, and ripens fruit, 
one might form a conjecture that 
it was Rachel's dudaim. These 
were brought her in the wheat 
harvest, which in Galilee is in the 
month of May, about this time, 
and the mandrake was now in 
fruit." 

MANEH, a Hebrew weight 
of sixty shekels. Ezek. 45:12. 
See the Table at the end of 
the volume. 

MANNA, the miraculous food 
given by God to the Israelites, 
during their wanderings in the 
desert. It was a small grain 
white like hoar-frost, round, and 
the size of coriander-seed. Ex 
16:14. Numb. 11:7. It fell 
every morning, with the dew, 
about the camp of the Israelites, 
and in so great quantities during 
the whole forty vears of their 
journey in the wilderness, that it 
was sufficient to serve the entire 
multitude, instead of bread. It 
cannot, however, be supposed, 
nor is it any where said, that the 
Israelites had not also other food, 
or at least flesh. Bread they 
could not have, as they did not 
and could not till the ground ; 
but that numerous flocks and 
herds accompanied the camp of 
Israel is clear, from many pas- 
sages, as well as from the nature 
of the case. Certainly, the 
daily sacrifices were offered j 



MAN 



[198] 



AR 



and, no doubt, other offerings, 
affording animal food, on which 
the priests and Levites subsisted, 
according to their offices. 

Burckhardt says, that in the 
valleys around Sinai a species of 
manna is still found, dropping 
from the sprigs of several trees, 
but principally from the gharrab. 
It is collected by the Arabs, who 
make cakes of it, and call it 
assal beyrouk, or honey of bey- 
rouk. (See Exod. 16:31.) Since 
his time it has been ascertained by 
Dr. Ehrenberg, that this manna 
is occasioned by an insect, which 
he has particularly described. 
That this, however, could not 
have been the manna of the Isra- 
elites, is sufficiently obvious 5 un- 
less we regard it as having been 
miraculously increased, and its 
qualities miraculously changed, 
a supposition which involves as 
great an exertion of miraculous 
power as the direct bestowment 
of a different substance. The 
following is Burckhardt's account 
of the modern manna : — 

" It is from the tamarisk, or 
tar/a, that the manna is obtained. 
This substance is called by the 
Bedouins mann. and accurately 
resembles the description of man- 
na given in the Scriptures. In 
the month of June, it drops from 
the thorns of the tamarisk upon 
the fallen twigs, leaves and thorns, 
which always cover the ground 
beneath that tree in the natural 
state ; the manna is collected be- 
fore sunrise, when it is coagu- 
lated ; but it dissolves as soon as 
the sun shines upon it. The 
Arabs clean away the leaves, 
dirt, &c. which adhere to it, boil 
it, strain it through a coarse piece 
of cloth, and put it in leathern 
skins : in this way they preserve 
it till the following year, and use 
it as they do honey, to pour over 
unleavened bread, or to dip their 



bread into. I could not learn 
that they ever made it into cakes 
or loaves. The manna is found 
only in years when copious rains 
have fallen ; sometimes it is not 
produced at all. I saw none of 
it among the Arabs, but I obtain- 
ed a small piece of the last year's 
produce, in the convent, (of mount 
Sinai,) where, having been kept in 
the cool shade and moderate tem- 
perature of that place, it had be- 
come quite solid, and formed a 
small cake ; it became soft when 
kept some time in the hand ; if 
placed in the sun for five minutes, 
it dissolved ; but when restored 
to a cool place, it became solid 
again in a quarter of an hour. In 
the season at which the Arabs 
gather it, it never acquires that 
state of hardness which will al- 
low of its being pounded, as the 
Israelites are said to have done, 
in Numb. 11:8. Its color is a 
dirty yellow, and the piece which 
I saw was still mixed with bits 
of tamarisk leaves ; its taste is 
agreeable, somewhat aromatic, 
and as sweet as honey. If eaten 
in anj' considerable quantity, it is 
said to be slightly purgative. The 
quantity of manna collected at 
present, even in seasons when 
the most copious rains fall, is 
trifling, perhaps not amounting 
to more than five or six hundred 
pounds. It is entirely consumed 
among the Bedouins, who con- 
sider it the greatest dainty which 
their country affords. The har- 
vest is usually in June, and lasts 
for about six weeks." 

MANSLAYER. see Refuge. 

MARAN-ATHA, made up of 
two Syriac words, signifying the 
Lord cometh. See under Anath- 
ema. 

MARCUS, or Mark, the 
writer of one of the four Gospels. 
There can be little doubt of 
the correctness of the general 



MAR 



[ 199] 



AR 



opinion of learned men 7 that he 
is the same person who is men- 
tioned by the names of John and 
Mark in Acts 12: 12,25. 13:5,13, 
and as the cousin of Barnabas. 
Col. 4:10. He was also the 
companion of Paul and Barna- 
bas in their journey through 
Greece, Acts 13:5, &.c. Col. 4: 
11 j then of Barnabas alone. 
Acts 15:37,39; and he after- 
wards accompanied Peter also to 
the capital of Babylonia, 1 Pet. 
5 : 13. As he was the son of that 
Mary at whose house in Jerusa- 
lem the apostles were wont to 
convene, so it is probable that 
he was particularly instructed in 
tne doctrines of Christianity by 
Peter, who on that account calls 
him son. 1 Pet. 5:13: comp. 1 
Tim. 1:2 and 2 Tim. l':2. The 
apostle Paul also seems to have 
been again reconciled to him, 
since he mentions him, when in 
captivity at Rome, as one of 
those who were associated with 
him. Col. 4:10. 2 Tim. 4:11. 
Philem. 24. See also John III. 
MARKET. The market, or 
forum, in the cities of antiquity, 
was different from the market in 
our modern towns, where meat, 
&c. is usually sold. When 
we read, Acts 17:17, of the 
apostle Paul disputing' with phi- 
losophers in the " market" at 
Athens, we are apt to wonder 
what kind of philosophers these 
market-folks could be 5 or why 
the disputants could not enr . e in 
a place filter for the inves: 'g . on 
and discussion of abstruse and 
difficult subjects. So, when we 
read that Paul and Silas, having 
expelled the Pythonic spirit, 
Acts 16:19, were led to the 
market-place, and accused, we 
may not be aware of the fitness 
of a market for the residence of 
a tribunal of justice. But the 
fact is, that the forum was usual- 



ly a public market on one side 
only, the other sides of the area 
being occupied by temples, thea 
ires, courts of justice, and other 
public buildings. In short, the 
forums were sumptuous squares, 
surrounded by decorations, &c. 
of various, and often of magnifi- 
cent kinds. Here the philoso- 
phers met, and taught ; here laws 
were promulgated ; and here de- 
votions, as well as amusements, 
occupied the populace. This re- 
moves entirely the seeming in- 
congruity between discourses and 
disputations on the principles of 
theology and Christianity, and 
those commercial avocations 
which we usually assign to a 
market-place. On the same 
principle, when the Pharisees 
j desired salutations in the market- 
places, Mark 12:38, it was not 
merely from the country people 
who brought their productions for 
sale ; but, as they loved to be 
admired by religious people at 
the temple, the synagogues, &c. 
so they desired salutations from 
persons of consequence, judges, 
magistrates, dignitaries, &c. in 
the forum, in order to display 
their importance to the people, 
and to maintain their influence. 

MARRIAGE. In the East, 
persons are often betrothed long 
before the nuptials, or marriage, 
take place. The nuptials were, 
and are still, conducted with very 
great ceremony,, and with feast- 
ing and rejoicing for several days. 

We see by the N. T. that the 
bridegroom had a paranymphus , 
or brideman, called by our Sa- 
viour " the friend of the bride- 
groom." John 3:29. A number 
of young people kept him com- 
pany during the days of the wed- 
ding, to do him honor ; as also 
young women kept company 
with the bride all this time. The 
companions of the bridegroom 



MAR 



[ 200 ] 



MAR 



are expressly mentioned in the 
history of Samson, Judg. 14:11, 
&c. and Cant. 5:1. 8:13; also 
the companions of the bride, 
Cant. 1:5. 2:7. 3:5. 8:4. Ps. 
45:9,14. The office of the bride- 
man was to perform the ceremo- 
nies of the wedding', instead of 
the bridegroom, and to obey his 
orders. The friends and com- 
panions of the bride sang the 
epithalamium, or wedding song, 
at the door of the bride the even- 
ing before the wedding. The 
ceremony of the wedding was 
performed with great decorum, 
the young people of each sex 
being kept separate, in distinct 
apartments, and at different ta- 
bles. The reservedness of the 
eastern people towards their 
women required this ; and we 
see proofs of it in the marriage 
of Samson, in that of Esther, 
and in the Canticles. The young 
men diverted themselves some- 
times in proposing riddles, and 
the bridegroom appointed the 
prize to those who could explain 
them. Judg. 14:14. 

The Jews affirm, that before 
Jerusalem was laid in ruins, 
the bridegroom and bride wore 
crowns at their marriage. In 
Scripture we find mention of the 
crown of the bridegroom, but not 
of that of the bride ; and, indeed, 
the head-dress of the women was 
by no means convenient for wear- 
ing a crown. Compare Isa. 61: 
10. Cant. 3:11, " Go forth, O 
ye daughters of Zion, and be- 
hold king Solomon with the 
crown wherewith his mother 
crowned him in the day of 
his espousals, and in the day 
of the gladness of his heart." 
The modern Jews, in some places, 
throw handfuls of wheat on the 
newly-married couple, particular- 
ly on the bride, saying, " In- 
crease and multiply." In other 



places, they mingle pieces of 
money with the wheat, which 
are gathered up by the poor. 

The wedding ceremonies com- 
monly lasted seven days for a 
maid, and three da} r s for a widow. 
So Laban says to Jacob, re- 
specting Leah, " Fulfil her week." 
Gen. 29:27. The ceremonies 
of Samson's wedding continued 
seven whole days. Judg. 14:17, 
18. These seven days of rejoic- 
ing were commonly spent in the 
house of the woman's father, 
after which they conducted the 
bride to her husband's home. 

The procession accompanying 
the bride from the house of her 
father to that of the bridegroom, 
was generally one of great pomp, 
according to the circumstances 
of the married couple ; and for 
this they often chose the night. 
Hence, in the parable of the ten 
virgins that went to meet the 
bride and bridegroom, Matt. c. 
25, it is said the virgins were 
asleep 5 and at midnight, being 
awaked at the cry of the bride- 
groom's coming, the foolish vir- 
gins found they had no oil to sup- 
ply their lamps ; which while 
they went to buy, the bridegroom 
and his attendants passed by. 
" At a Hindoo marriage, the pro- 
cession of which I saw some 
years ago," says Mr. Ward, " the 
bridegroom came from a dis- 
tance, and the bride lived at 
Serampore, to which place the 
bridegroom was to come by 
water. After waiting two or 
three hours, at length, near mid 
night, it was announced, as if in 
the very words of Scripture, 
' Behold ! the bridegroom com- 
eth ; go ye out to meet him.' 
All the persons employed now 
lighted their lamps, and ran with 
them in their hands, to fill up 
their stations in the procession 5 
some of them had lost their 



M A R 



[201 ] 



MAR 



lights, and were unprepared; but 
it was then too late to seek them, 
and the cavalcade moved for- 
ward to the house of the bride, 
at which place the company 
entered a large and splendidly 
illuminated area, before the 
house, covered with an awning, 
where a great multitude of 
friends, dressed in their best ap- 
parel, were seated upon mats. 
The bridegroom was carried in 
the arms of a friend, and placed 
in a superb seat in the midst of 
the company, where he sat a 
short time, and then went into 
the house, the door of which was 
immediately shut, end guarded 
by sepoys. I and others expos- 
tulated with the door-keepers, 
but in vain. Never was I so 
struck with our Lord's beautiful 
parable, as at this moment : — and 
the door was sfmt." 

MARS'-HILL is the transla- 
tion of the Greek word Areopa- 
gus. See that article. 

MARTHA, a sister of Laz- 
arus, whom our Lord raised from 
the dead. Luke 10:38, &c. 
John c. 11. 

MARTYR properly denotes 
a witness ; in ecclesiastical his- 
tory, ' a witness, by the shedding 
of his blood, in testifjnng to the 
truth.' Thus martyrs are distin- 
guished from confessors, proper- 
ly so called, who underwent 
great afflictions for their confes- 
sion of the truth, but without 
suffering death. The term mar- 
tyr occurs only thrice in the N. 
T. Acts 22 : 20. Rev. 2:13.17:6. 

MARY, the name of several 
females in the N. T. 

1. Mary, the mother of our 
Lord, and whose genealogy is 
supposed to be given in Luke 
c. 3. After the return of Joseph 
and Mary out of Egvpt, they 
dwelt in Nazareth. Matt. 2:23. 
Mary is only mentioned two or 



three times afterwards in the sa- 
cred history. Luke 2:5,19. John 
2:4, &c. 19:25—27, &c. She 
was with the apostles, no doubt, 
at the ascension of our Saviour, 
and continued with them at Jeru- 
salem, waiting the descent of the 
Holy Ghost. After this time she 
dwelt with John the evangelist, 
who regarded her as his own 
mother. Some have supposed 
that Mary finished her life by 
martyrdom, from those words of 
Simeon, " A sword shall pierce 
through thy own soul also." Luke 
2:35. The Catholic church has 
understood this literally, and the 
Virgin is very often represented 
in images and paintings with a 
sword thrust through her vitals. 
Eut this is generally and more 
properly referred to her afflic- 
tion at beholding her son's cru- 
cifixion ; and no history mentions 
her martyrdom. 

2. Mary, the mother of Mark, 
had a house in Jerusalem, where 
the followers of Jesus were wont 
to convene. Hither Peter, when 
delivered from prison by the an- 
gel, came and knocked at the 
gate. Acts 12:12. 

3. Mary, the sister of our 
Lord's mother, was the wife of 
Cleophas, and mother of James 
the Less, and of Simon, brethren 
of our Lord. John 19:25. Luke 
24:10. Matt. 27:56,61. She 
believed early on Jesus Christ, 
and accompanied him in some of 
his journeys, to minister to him, 
followed him to Calvary, and 
was with his mother at the fool 
of his cross. She was also pres- 
ent at his burial, and prepared 
perfumes to embalm him. See 
Cleophas. 

4. Mary, the sister of Lazarus, 
whom our Lord raised from the 
dead. Luke 10:39,42. John c. 11. 

5. Mary Magdalene, so called 
from the city or place Magdala, 



MAT 



[ 202 ] 



ME A 



in Galilee. She, with other fe- 
males, appears to have followed 
Jesus, in company with his apos- 
tles, as he preached the gospel 
from city to city, and " minister- 
ed unto him of their substance. 7 ' 
Luke 8:2,3. She was also pres- 
ent at the crucifixion of our Lord, 
and was the first to discover his 
resurrection and afterwards to 
speak with him. John 19:25. 
20:1,14,16. 

MASCHIL is a term found 
as a title to some of the Psalms, 
and imports one that instructs 
or makes to understand. Some 
interpreters think, that it means 
an instrument of music j but it 
more probably signifies an in- 
structive song. 

MATTHEW, an apostle and 
evangelist, was son of Alpheus, 
a Galilean by birth, a Jew by 
religion, and a publican by pro- 
fession. Matt. 9:9. 10:3. Luke 
6:15. The other evangelists 
call him only Levi, which was 
his Hebrew name, Mark 2:14. 
Luke 5:27; but he always calls 
himself Matthew, which was 
probably his name as a publican, 
or officer for gathering taxes. 
He does not dissemble his for- 
mer profession ; thus exalting the 
grace of Christ, which raised him 
to the apostleship. His ordinary 
abode was at Capernaum, and 
his office out of the town, at the 
sea of Tiberias, whence he was 
called by Jesus to follow him. 
Matt. 9:9. Mark 2:14. It is 
probable that he had a previous 
knowledge of the miracles and 
doctrine of Christ, whom he might 
have heard preach. 

For the Gospel of Matthew, 
see Go s pet.. 

MATTHIAS, one of the dis- 
ciples who continued with our 
Saviour from his baptism to his 
ascension, Acts 1 : 23,26, and was 
after the ascension associated 



with the eleven apostles. We 
know nothing further of him. 

MAZZAROTH, Job 33:32. 
Our translators properly suppose 
this word to denote the twelve 
signs of the zodiac, a broad circle 
in the heavens, comprehending 
all such stars as lie in the path of 
the sun and moon. As these lumi- 
naries appear to proceed through- 
out this circle annually, so dif- 
ferent parts of it progressively re- 
ceive them every month ; and this 
progression seems to be what is 
meant by " bringing forth mazza- 
roth in his season," i. e. Canst 
thou by thy power cause the revo- 
lutions of the heavenly bodies in 
the zodiac, and the seasons of 
summer and winter, in their regu- 
lar succession? 

MEASURE. See the gene- 
ral table of Weights, Measures 
and Money of the Hebrews, at 
the end of the Dictionary ; also 
the particular names of each, 
as Shekel, Talent, Bath, 
Ephah, &c. 

MEATS. It does not appear 
that the ancient Hebrews were 
very nice about the seasoning 
and dressing of their food. We 
find among them roast meat, 
boiled meat, and ragouts. Meats 
that were offered were boiled in 
a pot. 1 Sam. 2:15. Moses for- 
bids to seethe a kid in its mother's 
milk ; which may be understood 
as forbidding to sacrifice it while 
it sucked ; or that it should not 
be boiled in the milk of its dam, 
as the Hebrews explain it. Ex. 
23 : 19. 34 : 26. They might not 
kill a cow and its calf in the 
same day ; nor a sheep, or goat, 
and its young one, at the same 
time. They might not cut ofT a 
part of a living animal to eat it, 
either raw or dressed. If any 
lawful beast or bird should die 
of itself or be strangled, and 
the blood not drain away, they 



ME A 



[203] 



MED 






were not allowed to taste of it. 
He that by inadvertence should 
eat of any animal that died of 
itself, or that was killed by any 
beast, was to be unclean till the 
evening-, and was not purified till 
he had washed his clothes. They 
ate of nothing- dressed by any 
other than a Jew, nor did they 
ever dress their victuals with the 
kitchen implements of any but 
one of their own nation. 

The prohibition of eating blood, 
or animals that are strangled, has 
been always rigidly observed by 
the Jews. In the Christian church, 
the custom of refraining from 
things strangled, and from blood, 
continued for a long time. In the 
council of the apostles held at 
Jerusalem, Acts c. 15, it was de- 
clared that converts from pagan- 
ism should not be subject to the 
legal ceremonies, but that they 
should refrain from idolatry, from 
fornication, from eating blood, 
and from such animals as were 
strangled, and their blood there- 
by retained in their bodies ; which 
decree was observed for many 
ages by the church. 

Meats offered to Idols. 1 Cor. 
8:7,10. At the first settling of 
the church, there were many dis- 
putes concerning the use of meats 
offered to idols. Some newly 
converted Christians, convinced 
that an idol was nothing, and that 
the distinction of clean and un- 
clean creatures was abolished by 
our Saviour, ate indifferently of 
whatever was served up to them, 
even among pagans, without in- 
quiring whether the meats had 
been offered to idols. They took 
the same liberty in buying meat 
sold in the market, not regarding 
whether it were pure or impure, 
according to the Jews ; or whether 
it had been offered to idols or not. 
But other Christians, weaker, or 
less instructed, were offended at 



this liberty, and thought that eat- 
ing of meat which had been offer- 
ed to idols, was a kind of par- 
taking in that wicked and sac- 
rilegious offering. This diver- 
sit}' of opinion produced some 
scandal, to which Paul thought 
it behoved him to provide a reme- 
dy. Rom. 14:20. Tit. 1:15. 
He determined, therefore, that 
all things were clean to such as 
were clean, and that an idol was 
nothing at all. That a man might 
safely eat of whatever was sold 
in the shambles, and need not 
scrupulously inquire from whence 
it came 3 and that if an unbeliever 
should invite a believer to eat with 
him, the believer might eat of 
whatever was set before him, 
&c. 1 Cor. 10:25, &c. But at 
the same time he enjoins, that 
the laws of charity and prudence 
should be observed ; that be- 
lievers should be cautious of 
scandalizing or offending weak 
minds ; for though all things 
might be lawful, yet all things 
were not always expedient. 

MEDIA, called by the He- 
brews Madai, extended itself on 
the west and south of the Caspian 
sea, from Armenia on the north 
to Farsistan or Persia proper on 
the south ; and included the dis- 
tricts now called Shirvan, Adser- 
bijan, Ghilan, Masanderan and 
Irak Adjemi. It covered a ter- 
ritory larger than that of Spain, 
lying between thirty and forty 
degrees of north latitude; and 
was one of the most fertile and 
earliest cultivated among the 
kingdoms of Asia. It had two 
grand divisions ; of which the 
north-western was called Atro- 
patene, or Lesser Media, and the 
southern Greater Media. The 
former corresponds to the modern 
Adserbijan, now, as formerly, a 
province of the Persian empire 
on the west of the Caspian, su« 



M E D 



[ 204 ] 



MED 



rounded by high mountains of the 
Tauritic range, except towards 
the east, where the river Kur, or 
Cyrus, discharges its waters into 
the Caspian. The Greater Media 
corresponds principally to the 
modern Irak Adjemi, or Persian 
Irak. 

Media is one of the most ancient 
independent kingdoms of which 
history makes mention. After 
several centuries of subjugation 
under Assyria, the Medes re- 
belled under Sennacherib, about 
700 B. C. and continued an inde- 
pendent kingdom until, under 
Cyrus, Media became united with 
Persia. In this way arose the 
Medo-Persian kingdom ; and the 
laws of the Medes and Persians 
are always mentioned by the 
sacred writers together. Esth. 
l:19,&c. Dan. 6: 8,12, &c. So 
also the Chronicles of the Medes 
and Persians are mentioned 
together, Esth. 10:2. Indeed, 
from this time onward, the man- 
ners, customs, religion and civili- 
zation of the Medes and Persians 
seem ever to have become more 
and more amalgamated. And 
in general it would seem, as we 
may gather from the ancient 
Zend writings, that the Medes, 
Persians and Bactrians were 
originally the same people, having 
in common one language, the 
Zend, and one religion, the wor- 
ship of Ormuzd, the highest being, 
under the symbol of fire. Trie 
priests of this religion, the Magi, 
were a Median race, to whom 
were intrusted the cultivation of 
the sciences, and the performance 
of the sacred rites. Among these, 
and, as is supposed, before the 
time of Cyrus, appeared Zer- 
dusht, or Zoroaster, as a reformer, 
or rather as the restorer of the 
ancient but now degenerated re- 
ligion of light; whose disciples 
have maintained themselves even 



to the present day in Persia and 
India, under the name of Gue- 
bres. 

MEDIATOR. When God 
gave his law to the Hebrews, and 
made a covenant with them at 
Sinai, a mediator was necessary, 
who should relate the words of 
God to the Hebrews, and their 
answers to him ; in order that the 
articles of the covenant being 
agreed to by each party, they 
might be ratified and confirmed 
by blood and by oath. Moses 
on this occasion was mediator be- 
tween God and the people, as 
Paul says, Gal. 3: 19, " The lav 
was added because of transgres- 
sions, and was ordained by angels 
in the hand of a mediator." In 
the new covenant which God has 
been pleased to make with the 
Christian church, Jesus Christ is 
the mediator of redemption. He 
was the surety, the sacrifice, the 
priest and the intercessor of this 
covenant. He has sealed it 
with his blood, has proposed the 
terms and conditions of it in his 
gospel, has instituted the form of 
it in baptism, and the commemo- 
ration of it in the sacrament of 
his body and blood. Paul, in 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, en- 
larges on this office of mediator 
of the new covenant, exercised 
bv Christ. Heb. 8:6. 9:15. 
12:24. See also 1 Tim. 2:5. 

In all ages and in all parts of 
the world, there has constantly 
prevailed such a sense of the in- 
finite holiness of the supreme 
Divinity, with so deep a convic- 
tion of the imperfections of human 
nature and the guilt of man, as to 
deter worshippers from coming 
directly into the presence of a 
Being so awful : — recourse has 
therefore been had to mediators. 
Sacrifices were thought to be a 
kind of mediation ; and, in short, 
there has been a universal feeling, 



MEL 



[ 205 ] 



MEL 



a sentiment never forgotten, of 
the necessity of an interpreter, or 
mediator, between God and man. 

MEGIDDO, a city in or near 
the great plain of Esdraelon, sit- 
uated probably in the south-west- 
ern part of it , and near the Kishon, 
which is called the tvaters of Me- 
giddo. It was the scene of the 
victory of Deborah and Barak, 
Judg. 5 : 19, and of the defeat of 
Josiah, 2 K. 23:29,30. 

MELCHISEDEC, {king of 
righteousness,) king of Salem, 
and priest of the Most High God. 
Scripture tells us nothing of his 
father, or of his mother, or of his 
genealogy, or of his birth, or of his 
death. Heb. 7:1—3. And in 
this sense he was, as Paul says, 
a figure of Jesus Christ, who is a 
priest forever, according to the 
order of Melchisedec ; and not 
according to the order of Aaron, 
whose origin, consecration, life 
and death are known. (See Gen- 
ealogy.) The history of Mel- 
chisedec in the O. T. is given in 
Gen. 14:18—20. 

It has been matter of great in- 
quiry among commentators, who 
Melchisedec really was. He has 
been variously supposed to be 
the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, 
an angel, Enoch, and Shem. 
But the safest and most probable 
opinion is that which considers 
Melchisedec as a righteous and 
peaceful king, a worshipper and 
priest of the Most High God, in 
the land of Canaan ; a friend of 
Abraham, and of a rank elevated 
above him. This opinion, indeed, 
lies upon the very face of the sa- 
ered record inGen. c. 14,andHeb. 
c. 7, and it is the only one which 
can be defended on any tolerable 
grounds of interpretation. What 
can be more improbable than all 
the opinions above enumerated 1 
The most popular of them all, 
viz. that Melchisedec was Christ, 
18 



would of course force us to adopt 
the interpretation in Heb. c. 7, 
that " Christ was like himself;" 
and that a comparison is there 
formally instituted between Christ 
and himself! The mere mention 
of which is its best refutation. 

MELITA. The name Melita 
was anciently applied to two 
islands ; one in the Adriatic sea, 
on the coast of Illyricum, now 
called Meleda; the other in the 
Mediterranean, between Sicily 
and Africa, now called Malta. 
That the latter is the one on 
which Paul suffered shipwreck is 
probable, because he left the 
island in a ship of Alexandria, 
which had wintered there on her 
voyage to Italy, and after touch- 
ing at Syracuse and Rhegium, 
landed at Puteoli 5 thus sailing 
on a direct course. The other 
Melita would be far out of the 
usual track from Alexandria to 
Italy 5 and in sailing from it to 
Rhegium, Syracuse also would be 
out of the direct course. The 
fact that the vessel was tossed all 
night before the shipwreck in the 
Adriatic sea, does not militate 
against the probability of its 
afterwards being driven upon 
Malta ; because the name Adria 
was applied to the whole Ionian 
sea, which lay between Sicily 
and Greece. (See Adria.) Acts 
27:27. 28:1. 

By a remarkable arrangement 
of Providence, the little island 
on which the apostle Paul was 
cast away in bonds, has now 
become the centre and seat of 
missionary operations in respect 
to all the countries around the 
Mediterranean. The English 
have a missionary establishment 
there 3 and the ptess of the 
American mission is thence dif- 
fusing tracts and school books by 
thousands throughout Greece, 
Turkey, Palestine, Armenia, &c. 



MER 



[ 206 ] 



MER 



MELONS are common in the 
East, but do not differ particular- 
ly from ours. 

MEMPHIS. Hos.9:6. See 
Noph. 

MEN A HEM, the sixteenth 
king- of Israel, was originally 

feneral of the army of Zachariah. 
[e was at Tirzah when he heard 
of his master's murder, and im- 
mediately marched against Shal- 
lum, who had shut himself up in 
Samaria, whom he killed, and 
then ascended the throne. He 
reigned in Samaria ten years, 
and did evil in the sight of the 
Lord. Pul, king of Assyria, 
having invaded Israel during the 
reign of Menahem, obliged him 
to pay a tribute of a thousand 
talents, which Menahem raised 
by a tax on all his subjects of 
fifty shekels a head. Menahem 
slept with his fathers, and his son 
Pekahiah reigned in his stead. 

2 K. 15: 13 22. 

MEPHIBOSHETH, a son of 
Jonathan, also called Me.rib-baal. 

1 Chr. 8:34. Mephibosheth was 
very young when his father was 
killed in the battle of Gilboa, 2 
Sam. 4:4, and his nurse was in 
such consternation at the news, 
that she let the child fall, who, 
from this accident, was lame all 
his life. When David found 
himself in peaceable possession 
of the kingdom, he sought for all 
that remained of the house of 
Saul, that he might show them 
kindness, in consideration of the 
friendship between him and Jon- 
athan. He gave Mephibosheth 
the estate of his grandfather 
S-aul, of which, however, he was 
afterwards deprived by the 
treachery of his servant Ziba. 

2 Sam. c. 9. c. 16. 19:24. 
MERAB, the eldest daughter 

of king Saul, was promised to 
David in marriage, in reward for 
his victory over Goliath, but 



was given to Adriel, son of Bar- 
zillai the Meholathite. 1 Sam. 
14:49. 18:17,19. Merab had 
six sons by him,who were deliver- 
ed to the Gibeonites, and hanged 
before the Lord. The text inti- 
mates that the six men delivered 
to the Gibeonites were sons of 
Michal, daughter of Saul and 
wife of Adriel j but see under 

MERCURY, a fabulous god 
of the ancient heathen, the mes- 
senger of the celestials, and the 
deity that presided over learning, 
eloquence and traffic. The 
Greeks named him Hermes, an 
interpreter, because they consid- 
ered him as interpreter of the 
will of the gods. Probably, it 
was for this reason that the 
people of Lystra, having heard 
Paul preach, and having seen 
him heal a lame man, would have 
offered sacrifice to him, as to their 
god Mercury ; and to Barnabas 
as Jupiter, because of his ven- 
erable aspect. Acts 14:11,12. 

MERCY-SEAT. The Hebrew 
word thus translated may be 
rendered a covering ; and indeed 
it was the cover of the ark of the 
covenant, or of the sacred chest 
in which the laws of the covenant 
were contained. At each end of 
this cover was a cherub of beaten 
gold 5 which, stretching out their 
wings towards each other, formed 
a kind of throne, where the Lord 
was considered as sitting. Hence 
the Hebrews invoked him some- 
times as he " who sitteth upon 
the cherubim." This covering 
or lid of the ark, then, was strictiy 
regarded as a mercy-seat, whence 
Jehovah heard and answered the 
prayers of his people. 

MERODACH, an idol of the 
Babylonians, representing, prob- 
ably, the planet Mars. Jer. 
50 : 2. The names of Babylonish 
kings were also sometimes com- 



MES 



[ 207 ] 



MIC 



pounded with this name, as Evil- 
Merodach, and Merodach-Bala- 
dan. Isa. 39 : 1, who is also called 
Berodach-Baladan in 2 Kings 
20:12. 

MEROM. The waters of Me- 
rom ; Josh. 11 : 5, or lake of Seme- 
chon, is the most northern of the 
three lakes supplied by the river 
Jordan. It is situated in a valley 
called the Ard Houle, formed by 
the two branches of mount Her- 
mon. The lake is now called 
after the valley, the lake of Houle. 
In summer this lake is for the 
most part dry, and covered with 
shrubs and grass, in which lions, 
bears and other wild beasts con- 
ceal themselves. See Jordan. 

MESOPOTAMIA, the Greek 
name of Aram-naharaim, a coun- 
try between the two rivers; a 
famous province, situated be- 
tween the rivers Tigris and Eu- 
phrates, and celebrated in Scrip- 
ture as the first dwelling of men 
after the deluge. It gave birth 
to Phaleg, Heber, Terah, Abra- 
ham, Nahor, Sarah, Rebekah, 
Rachel, Leah, and the sons of 
Jacob. The plains of Shinar 
were in this country ; and it was 
often called Mesopotamia of 
Syria, because it was inhabited 
by the Arameans, or Syrians ; 
and sometimes Padan-aram, or 
the plains of Aram. Gen. 28 : 2, 
&c. Mesopotamia, in its widest 
extent, stretches from the Persian 
gulf to mount Taurus ; but the 
name usually denotes only the 
tract above Babylonia, now- 
called Diarbekr, which was cele- 
brated for its exuberant fertility j 
while the part below, now IrakAr- 
abi, is sterile and without water. 
Mesopotamia was included in 
the territories of the Assyrian, 
Babylonian and Persian empires, 
and belongs now to that of the 
Turks. 

MESSIAH, or Messias, an- 



ointed, a title given principally, 
or by way of eminence, to that 
sovereign deliverer promised to 
the Jews. They used to anoint 
their kings, high-priests, and 
sometimes prophets, when they 
were set apart to their office ; 
and hence the phrase to anoint 
for an employment, sometimes 
signifies merely a particular des- 
ignation or choice for such an 
employment. Cyrus, who found- 
ed the empire of the Persians, 
and who set the Jews at liberty, 
is called, Isa. 45:1, the anointed 
of the Lord ; and in Ezek. 28 : 14, 
the epithet anointed is given to 
the king of Tyre. 

But, as we have already ob- 
served, Messiah is the designa- 
tion given by the Hebrews, emi- 
nently, to that Saviour and 
Deliverer whom they expected, 
and who was promised to them 
by all the prophets. As the holy 
unction was given to kings, 
priests and prophets, by describ- 
ing the promised Saviour of the 
world under the name of Christ, 
Anointed, or Messiah, it was suf- 
ficiently evidenced, that the qual- 
ities of king, prophet and high- 
priest would eminently centre in 
him ; and that he should exercise 
them not only over the Jews, but 
over all mankind ; and particu- 
larly over those who should re- 
ceive him as their Saviour. See 
Christ. 

MICAH, the Morasthite, or of 
Mareshah, a village near Eleu- 
theropolis, in the south of Judah, 
is the seventh in order of the 
lesser prophets. He prophesied 
under Jotham, Ahaz and Hez- 
ekiah, kings of Judah, for about 
fifty years, from near the begin- 
ning of the reign of Jotham to 
the last year of Hezekiah. He 
was nearly contemporary with 
Isaiah, and has some expressions 
in common with him. Comp. 



MIL 



[ 208 ] 



MIN 



Isa. 2:2 with Micah 4:1, and 
Isa. 41:15 with Micah 4: 13. 

MICHAEL, see Archangel. 

MIDIAN, Midianites. The 
original and appropriate dis- 
trict of the Midianites seems to 
have been on the east side of 
the Elanitic branch of the Red 
sea, where the Arabian geogra- 
phers place the city Madian. 
But they appear to have spread 
themselves northward, probably 
along the desert east of mount 
Seir, to the vicinity of the Mo- 
abites ; and on the other side 
also, the} 7 covered a territory 
extending to the neighborhood of 
mount Sinai. See Exod. 3:1. 
18:1. Numb. c. 31. Judg. c. 6 
— 8. In Gen. 25:2,4, compared 
with verses 12 — 18, they are dis- 
tinguished from the descendants 
of Ishmael ; but elsewhere, the 
names Midianites and Ishmael- 
ites seem to be used as nearly 
synonymous. See Gen. 37:25, 
compared with verse 36 ; Judg. 
7:12, compared with 8:22,28. 
Their capital city was called 
Midian, and its remains were to 
be seen in the time of Jerome 
and Eusebius. It was situated 
on the Arnon, south of the city 
Ar, or Areopolis. 

The Midianites were idolaters, 
and often led Israel astray to 
worship their gods. They also 
not unfrequently rendered the 
Hebrews tributary, and op- 
pressed them. See Num. c. 22, 
25,31. Judg.c. 6, 7. 

MIDNIGHT, see Hour. 

MILCOM. see xMoloch. 

MILE. The word mile, in 
Matt. 5:41, is spoken of the Ro- 
man milliare, or mile, which con- 
tained eight stadia, 1000 paces, 
i. e. about 1611| yards, while 
the English mile contains 1760 
yards. 

MILETUS, an ancient city, 
formerly the metropolis of all 



Ionia, situated on the western 
coast of Asia Minor, on the con- 
fines of Caria, about ten stadia 
south of the estuary of the river 
Meander. It was the parent of 
many colonies, and was cele- 
brated for a temple and oracle of 
Apollo Didymseus, and as the 
birth-place of Thales, Anaximan- 
der, &c. Its precise site is not 
now known. Acts 20:15,17. 
2 Tim. 4:20. 

MILL, see under Corn. 

MILLET, a kind of grain, of 
which there are several species 
cultivated in Italy, Syria and 
Egypt. It is used partly green 
as fodder, and partly in the ripe 
grain for bread, &c. Ezekiel, 
4:9, received an order from the 
Lord, to make himself bread with 
a mixture of wheat, barley, beans, 
lentils and millet. " Durra" 
says Niebuhr, " is a kind of mil- 
let, made into bread with camel's 
milk, oil, butter, &c. and is 
almost the only food eaten by 
the common people of Arabia 
Felix. I found it so disagreea- 
ble, that I would willingly have 
preferred plain barley bread." 
This illustrates the appointment 
of it to the prophet Ezekiel, as a 
part of his hard fare. 

MINISTER, one who attends 
or waits on another 5 so Elisha 
was the minister of Elijah, 1 K. 
19:21. 2 K. 3:11, and Joshua 
the minister of Moses, Exod. 
24:13. 33:11. And these per- 
sons did not feel themselves de- 
graded by their stations, but in 
due time they succeeded to the 
offices of their masters. In like 
manner, John Mark was minister 
to Paul and Barnabas, Acts 13: 
5. Christ is called a Minister 
of the true, that is, the heavenly, 
sanctuary. 

MINT, a garden herb, suf- 
ficiently known. The Pharisees, 
desiring to distinguish themselves 



MOA 



[ 209 ] 



MON 



by a most scrupulous and literal 
observation of the law, gave 
tithes of mint, anise and cummin. 
Matt. 23:23. Our Saviour does 
not censure this exactness, but 
complains, that while they were 
so precise in these lesser matters, 
they neglected the essential com- 
mandments of the law. 

MIRACLE, a sign, wonder, 
prodigy. These terms are com- 
monly used in Scripture to de- 
note an action, event, or ef- 
fect, superior (or contrary) to 
the general and established laws 
of nature. 

MIRRORS, in ancient times, 
were simply plates of polished 
brass or other metal. See La 
ver. 

MITE, a small piece of money, 
two of which made a kodrantes, 
or the fourth part of the Roman 
as. The as was equal to three 
and one tenth farthings sterling, 
or about one and one half cunt. 
The mite, therefore, would be 
equal to about two mills. Luke 
12 "59 21 • 2 

MOABITES, the descendants 
of Moab, son of Lot, whose hab- 
itation was east of Jordan, and 
adjacent to the Dead sea, on 
both sides the river Anion, on 
which their capital city was sit- 
uated 5 although the river Arnon 
was strictly and properly the 
northern boundary of Moab. 
This country was originally pos- 
sessed by a race of giants called 
Emim, Deut. 2:11, whom the 
Moabites conquered. After- 
wards, the Amorites took a part 
from the Moabites, Judg. 11 : 13, 
15 ; but Moses reconquered it, 
and gave it to the tribe of Reu- 
ben. The Moabites were spared 
by Moses, as God had restricted 
him, Deut. 2:9 ; but there always 
was a great antipathy between 
them and the Israelites, which 
occasioned many wars. Balaam 
18* 



seduced the Hebrews to idolatry 
and uncleanness, by means of 
the daughters of Moab. Numb. 
25:1,2. God ordained that this 
people should not enter into the 
congregation of his people, or 
be capable of office, &c. even 
to the tenth generation, Deut. 
23:3, because they had the in- 
humanity to refuse the Israelites 
a passage through their country, 
nor would supply them with 
bread and water in their neces- 
sity. 

MOLOCH, or Milcom, the 
name of a heathen deity, wor- 
shipped by the Ammonites. The 
Israelites also introduced the 
worship of this idol, both during 
their wanderings in the desert, 
and after their settlement in Pal- 
estine. The principal sacrifices 
to Moloch were human victims, 
viz. children who were cast alive 
into the flames before his statue. 
(See in Hinnom.) Comp. Lev. 
18:21. 20:2, &c. 

MONEY was anciently weigh- 
ed, and did not at first exist in 
the form of coins. The most 
ancient commerce was conducted 
by barter, or exchanging one 
sort of merchandise for another. 
One man gave what he could 
spare to another, who gave him 
in return part of his superabun- 
dance. Afterwards, the more 
precious metals were used in 
traffic, as a value more generally 
known and stated. Lastly, they 
gave this metal, by public au- 
thority, a certain mark, a certain 
weight, and a certain degree of 
alloy, to fix its value, and to save 
buyers and sellers the trouble 
of weighing and examining the 
coins. 

Volney says, " The practice 
of weighing money is general in 
Syria, Egypt, and all Turkey. 
No piece, however effaced, is 
refused there : the merchant 



MON 



[ 210 ] 



MOR 



draws out his scales and weighs 
it, as in the days of Abraham, 
when he purchased his sepulchre. 
In considerable payments, an 
agent of exchange is sent for, 
who counts paras by thousands, 
rejects pieces of false money, 
and weighs all the sequins, either 
separately or together." This 
may serve to illustrate the phrase, 
" current money with the mer- 
chant." Gen. 23:16. 

MONTH. The Hebrew 
months were lunar months, i, e. 
from one new moon to another. 
These lunar months were each 
reckoned at twenty-nine days 
and a half 3 or rather one was 
of thirty days, the following of 
twenty-nine, and so on alternate- 
ly : that which had thirty days 
was called a full or complete 
month ; that which had but 
twenty-nine days was called 
incomplete. The new moon was 
always the beginning of the 
month, and this day they called 
Neomenia, new-moon day, or 
new month. 

After the exodus, which hap- 
pened in the month of March, 
God ordained that the holy year, 
that is, the calendar of religious 
feasts and ceremonies, should 
begin at Nisan, the seventh 
month of the civil year, the civil 
year being left unchanged, which 
the Hebrews continued to begin 
at the month Tisri, September. 
After the Babylonish captivity, 
the Jews, being but a handful of 
people in the midst of others 
surrounding them, complied 
with such customs and manners 
of dividing times and seasons, 
as were used by the people that 
ruled over them ; first, of the 
Chaldeans; afterwards, of the 
Persians 5 and lastly, of the 
Grecians. It should, however, 
be here remarked, that other in- 
terpreters, with more probability, 



reckon the beginning of Nisan 
and the sacred year from the 
new moon of April, and not of 
March ; and this of course varies 
the beginning of the other months 
in like manner. 



Names of the Hebrew Months, ac- 
cording to the Order of the Sacred 
and Civil Years. 

Sac. Civil. Begins with new moon of 

1 7 Nisan Mar. or April. 

2 8 Ijar April or May. 

3 9 Sivan May or June. 

4 10 Thammuz. .June or July. 

5 11 Ab July or Aug. 

6 12 Elul Aug. or Sept. 

7 1 Tisri Sept. or Oct. 

8 2 Marchesvan Oct. or Nov. 

9 3 Chisleu ....Nov. or Dec. 

10 4 Thebet Dec. or Jan. 

11 5 Shebat Jan. or Feb. 

12 6 Adar Feb. or Mar. 

Twelve lunar months making 
but 354 days and six hours, the 
Jewish year was short of the 
Roman by twelve days. To 
recover the equinoctial points, 
from which this difference of the 
solar and lunar } ; ear would sep- 
arate the new moon of the first 
month, the Jews every three 
years intercalated a thirteenth 
month, which they called Ve- 
adar, the second Adar. By 
this means their lunar year 
equalled the solar. See Year. 
MOON. The new moon 
marked the commencement of 
the Jewish months, and was a 
festival. (See Month.) The 
moon was also often worshipped, 
like the sun. See under Baal, 
and Ashtoreth. 

MORDECAI, the uncle of 
Esther, who rose to dignity and 
honor in the court of Ahasuerus. 
See the book of Esther. 

MORIAH, the hill on which 
the temple of Jerusalem was built. 
(See Jerusalem.) It seems to 
have been the same place where 



MOS 



[211 ] 



MOT 






Abraham was about to ofier up 
Isaac. Gen. c. 22. 

MOSES, the illustrious proph- 
et and legislator of the Hebrews, 
who led them from Egypt to the 
promised land. His history is 
too extensive to permit insertion 
here, and in general too well 
known to need it. It is enough 
simply to remark, that it is di- 
vided into three great epochs, 
each of forty years. The first 
extends from his birth, when he 
was exposed in the Nile, and 
found and adopted by the 
daughter of Pharaoh, to his 
flight to Midi an. During this 
time he lived at the Egyptian 
court, and " was learned in all 
the wisdom of the Egyptians, 
and was mighty in words and in 
deeds." Acts 7:22. This is no 
unmeaning praise; the "wis- 
dom" of the Egyptians, and 
especially of their priests, was 
then the profoundest in the world. 
The second period was from his 
flight till his return to Egypt, 
Acts 7:30 ; during the whole of 
which interval he appears to 
have lived in Midian, and sus- 
tained the character probably of 
a shepherd chief, like the Bedou- 
in sheikhs of the present day. 
What a contrast between the 
former period, spent amid the 
splendors and learning of a court, 
and this lonely nomadic life ! 
Still it was in this way, no doubt, 
that God prepared him to be the 
instrument of deliverance to his 
people during the third period of 
his life, which dates from the 
exodus out of Egypt to his 
death on mount Nebo. In this 
interval how much did he not 
accomplish, as the immediate 
agent of the Most High ! 

The life and institutions of 
Moses present one of the finest 
subjects for the pen of a philo- 
sophical Christian historian, who 



is, at the same time, a competent 
biblical antiquary. His institu- 
tions changed the whole character 
of the Hebrews, and transformed 
them from a nation of shepherds 
into a people of fixed residence 
and agricultural habits. Through 
that people, and through the 
Bible, the influence of these in- 
stitutions has been extended 
over the world ; and often where 
the letter has not been observed, 
the spirit of them has been 
adopted. Thus it was in the 
laws established by the pilgrim 
fathers of New England'; and if 
there is aught of value in the 
institutions which they founded, 
it is to be ascribed to the influ- 
ence of the Hebrew legislator, 
for they drew solely from his 
precepts. 

Moses was the author of the 
Pentateuch, as it is called, or the 
five books of Moses. In the 
composition of them he was very 
probably assisted by Aaron, who 
kept a register of public transac- 
tions. Ex. 17:14. 24:4,7. 34:27. 
Num. 33:1,2. Deut. 31 :24, &c. 
Some things were added by a 
later inspired hand ; e. g. the last 
chapter of Deuteronomy. 

MOTH. The common moth 
is an insect destructive to woollen 
cloths. The egg is laid by a 
small white miller, and produces 
a small shining worm ; which by 
another transformation becomes 
a miller. The allusions to the 
moth, as devouring clothes, and 
as a frail and feeble insect, are 
frequent in Scripture. Is. 50:9. 
Job 4:19. 27:18. Matt. 6:19, 
20. See Garments. 

The class of insects called in 
general moths, of which the above 
is only one species, is exceed- 
ingly numerous. The tribe is 
called by naturalists phalcena,and 
contains more than 1500 species. 
Moths fly abroad only in the 



MOD 



[ 212 ] 



MOU 



evening and night, differing in 
this respect from the tribe of 
butterflies, which fly only by day. 
Their larvae, or the worms from 
which they spring, are active and 
quick in motion, mostly smooth, 
and prey voraciously on the food 
adapted to them ; the common 
moth on cloths, others on the 
leaves of plants, &c. 

MOURNING. The Hebrews, 
at the death of their friends and 
relations, gave all possible dem- 
onstrations of grief and mourn- 
ing. They wept, tore their 
clothes, smote their breasts, 
fasted, and lay upon the ground, 
went barefooted, pulled their hair 
and beards, or cut them, and 
made incisions on their breasts, or 
tore them with their nails. Lev. 
19 : 28. 21 : 5. Jer. 16 : 6. The time 
of mourning was commonly seven 
days 3 but it was lengthened or 
shortened according to circum- 
stances. That for Moses and 
Aaron was prolonged to thirty 
days. Num. 20:29. Deut. 34:8. 

During the time of their mourn- 
ing, the near relations of the de- 
ceased continued sitting in their 
houses, and ate on the ground. 
The food they took was thought 
unclean, and even themselves 
were judged impure. " Their 
sacrifices shall be unto them as 
the bread of mourners ; all that 
eat thereof shall be polluted," 
Hos. 9:4. Their faces were 
covered, and in all that time they 
could not apply themselves to 
any occupation, nor read the 
book of the law, nor say their 
usual prayers. They did not 
dress themselves, nor make their 
beds, nor uncover their heads, 
nor shave themselves, nor cut 
their nails, nor go mto the bath, 
nor salute any body. Nobody 
spoke to them unless they spoke 
first. Their friends commonly 
went to visit and comfort them, 



bringing them food. They also 
went up to the roof, or upon the 
platform of their houses, to be- 
wail their misfortune : " Through 
all the cities of Moab (says 
Isaiah) they shall gird themselves 
with sackcloth : on the tops of 
their houses, and in their streets, 
every one shall howl, weeping 
abundantly." c. 15:3. The 
mourning habit among the He- 
brews was not fixed either by 
law or custom. We only find in 
Scripture, that they used to tear 
their garments, a custom still 
observed ; but now they tear a 
small part merely, and for form's 
sake. 2 Sam. 13:19. 2 Chr. 
34:27. Ezra 9:3. Job 2: 12. 
Joel 2:13. Anciently, in times 
of mourning, they clothed them- 
selves in sackcloth, or hair-cloth, 
that is, in coarse or ill made 
clothes, of brown or black stuff. 
2 Sam. 3:31. 1 K. 21:27. Esth. 
4:1. Ps. 35:13. 69:11. 

They hired women to weep 
and mourn, and also persons to 
play on instruments, at the fune- 
rals of the Hebrews. Jer. 9:17. 
In Matt. 9:23, we observe a 
company of minstrels or players 
on the flute, at the funeral of a 
girl of twelve years of age. All 
that met a funeral procession, or 
a company of mourners, out of 
civility were to join them, and to 
mingle their tears with those who 
wept. 

The custom of hiring women 
to weep and mourn has come 
down to modern times. The 
following account of such a 
scene at Nablous, the ancient 
Shechem, is from Dr. Jowett. 
The governor of the city had 
died the very morning of Dr. 
J.'s arrival. " On coming within 
sight of the gate, we perceived a 
numerous company of females, 
who were singing in a kind of 
recitative, far from melancholy, 



MOU 



[ 213 ] 



MUL 



and beating time with their hands. 
If this be mourning, I thought, 
it is of a strange kind. It had 
indeed, sometimes, more the air 
of angry defiance. But on our 
reaching the gate, it was sudden- 
ly exchanged for most hideous 
plaints, and shrieks, which, vi ith 
the feeling, that we were entering 
a city at no time celebrated for 
its hospitality, struck a very dis- 
mal impression upon my mind. 
They accompanied us a few 
paces ; but it soon appeared that 
the gate was their station, to 
which, having received nothing 
from us, they returned. We 
learnt, in the course of the even- 
ing, that these were only a small 
detachment of a very numerous 
body of cunning women, who 
were filling the whole city with 
their cries, taking up a wailing, 
with the design, as of old, to 
make the eyes of all the inhab- 
itants run down with tears, and 
their eyelids gush out with wa- 
ters. Jer. 9:17,18. For this 
good service, they would, the 
next morning, wait upon the 
government and principal per- 
sons, to receive some trifling fee." 
MOUSE, in the Scriptures, is 
used only of the field-mouse. 
Some have supposed it to be the 
jerboa ; but this is more proba- 
bly the coney, which see. The 
word rendered mouse probably 
includes various species of these 
animals, some of which were 
eaten. Moses, Lev. 11:29, de- 
clared it to be unclean, which 
implies that it was sometimes 
eaten 5 and Isaiah, 66:17, re- 
proaches the Jews with this prac- 
tice. Mice made great havoc 
in the fields of the Philistines, 
after that people had taken the 
ark of the Lord, which induced 
them to send it bark with mice 
and emerods of gold. 1 Sam. 
5 : 6, &c . 6 : 4,5. The field-mice 



are equally prevalent in those re- 

fions at the present day. Burck- 
ardt, in speaking of Hamath, 
says, " The western part of its 
territory is the granary of north- 
ern Syria; though the harvest 
never yields more than ten for 
one, chiefly in consequence of 
the immense numbers of mice, 
which sometimes wholly destroy 
the crops." See Hamath. 

MULBERRY-TREE. The 
word translated mulberry-tree 
signifies literally weeping, and 
indicates, therefore, some tree 
which distils balsam or gum. 
The particular species is not 
known. 2 Sam. 5:23,24. 1 Chr. 
14:14,15. 

MULE, a mixed animal, the 
offspring of a horse and an ass. 
A mule is smaller than a horse, 
and has long ears, though not so 
long as those of an ass. It is a 
remarkably hardy, patient, ob- 
stinate, sure-footed animal, and 
lives twice as long as a horse. 
Mules are much used in Spain 
and South America, for trans- 
porting goods across the moun- 
tains. So also in the Alps, they 
are used by travellers among the 
mountains, where a horse would 
hardly be able to pass with safe- 
ty. There is no probability that 
the Jews bred mules, because it 
was forbidden to couple creatures 
of different species. Lev. 19 : 19. 
But they were not forbidden to 
use them. Thus we may ob- 
serve, especially after David's 
time, that mules, male and fe- 
male, were common among the 
Hebrews : formerly they used 
only male and female asses. 2 
Sam. 13:29. 18:9. IK. 1:33. 
10:25. 18:5, &c. 

In Gen. 36:24, Anah is said 
to have found mules in the des- 
ert ; but the Hebrew word here 
probably means hot springs. See 
Anah. 



MUS 



[214] 



MUS 



MURRAIN is a plague, or 
contagious disease among- cattle. 
Ex. 9*3. * 

MUSIC. The ancient He- 
brews had a great taste for mu- 
sic, which they used in their re- 
ligious services, in their public 
and private rejoicings, at their 
feasts, and even in their mourn- 
ings. We have in Scripture, 
canticles of joy, of thanksgiving, 
of praise, of mourning; also 
mournful elegies or songs, as 
those of David on the deaths of 
Saul and Abner, and the Lamen- 
tations of Jeremiah on the de- 
struction of Jerusalem ; so, too, 
songs of victory, triumph and 
gratulation, as that which Moses 
sung after passing the Red sea, 
that of Deborah and Barak, and 
others. The book of Psalms is 
an ample collection of different 
pieces for music, composed on 
all sorts of subjects, by inspired 
authors. 

Music is very ancient. Mo- 
ses says that Jubal, who lived 
before the deluge, was the father 
of those who played on the harp 
and the organ, Gen. 4:21 ; i. e. 
the ancient organ answering to 
the Pandean pipes. Laban com- 

Elains that his son-in-law Jacob 
ad left him, without bidding 
him farewell, without giving him 
an opportunity of sending his 
family away " with mirth and 
with songs, with tabret and with 
harp." Moses, having passed 
through the Red sea, composed a 
song, and sung it with the Isra- 
elitish men, while Miriam, his 
sister, sung it with dancing, and 
playing on instruments, at the 
head of the women. He caused 
silver trumpets to be made, to 
be sounded at solemn sacrifices, 
and on religious festivals. Da- 
vid, who had a great taste for 
music, seeing that the Levites 
were numerous, and not employ- 



ed, as formerly, in carrying the 
boards, veils and vessels of the 
tabernacle, its abode being fixed 
at Jerusalem, appointed a great 
part of them to sing and toplay 
on instruments in the temple. 
2 Chr. c. 25. 

Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun 
were chiefs of the music of the 
tabernacle under David, and of 
the temple under Solomon. 
Asaph had four sons, Jeduthun 
six, and Heman fourteen. These 
twenty-four Levites, sons of the 
three great masters of the tem- 
ple-music, were at the head of 
twenty-four bands of musicians, 
which served in the temple by 
turns. Their number there was 
always great, but especially at 
the chief solemnities. They 
were ranged in order about the 
altar of burnt-sacrifices. As the 
whole business of their lives was 
to learn and to practise music, it 
must be supposed that they un- 
derstood it well, whether it were 
vocal or instrumental. 

The kings also had their par- 
ticular music. Asaph was chief 
master of music to David. In 
the temple, and in the ceremo- 
nies of religion, female musicians 
were admitted as well as male ; 
they generally were daughters of 
the Levites. Ezra, in his enume- 
ration of those whom he brought 
back with him from the captiv- 
ity, reckons 200 singing men and 
singing women. 2 Sam. 19:35. 
Ezra 2: 65. Neh. 7:67. 

As to the nature of their mu- 
sic, we can judge of it only by 
conjecture, because it has been 
long lost. Probably, it was a 
mixture of several voices, of 
which all sung together in the 
same tune, each according to his 
strength and skill ; without mu- 
sical counterpoint, or those differ- 
ent parts, and that combination 
of several voices and tones, 



MYR 



[215] 



MYS 



which constitute harmony in our 
concerts, or compounded music. 
Probably, also, the voices were 
generally accompanied by in- 
strumental music. But if we 
may draw any conclusions in 
favor of their music from its ef- 
fects, its magnificence, its majes- 
ty, and the lofty sentiments con- 
tained in their songs, we must 
allow it great excellence. 

MUSTARD, the sinapis ori- 
entalis of Linnaeus, a plant be- 
longing to the same genus as our 
common mustard, but of a differ- 
ent species, and in the fertile soil 
of Palestine often growing to a 
very considerable altitude. Matt. 
13.31,31 Mark 4:31,32. A 
grain of mustard-seed was used 
proverbially by the Jews to ex- 
press the least thing, the minutest 
particle. Matt. 17:20. 

MYRA, a town of Lycia, 
where Paul embarked for Rome, 
on board a ship of Alexandria. 
Acts 27:5. 

MYRRH, a gum yielded by a 
tree common in Arabia ; which 
is about eight or nine feet high ; 
its wood hard, and its trunk 
thorny. Scripture notices two 
kinds, one which runs of itself, 
without incision ; the other a kind 
which was employed in perfumes, 
and in embalming, to preserve 
the body from corruption. The 
Magi, who came from the East 
to worship Christ, offered to him 
myrrh. Matt. 2:11. 

In Mark 15:23, is mentioned 
myrrh and wine, or wine mingled 
with myrrh, which was offered 
to Jesus previous to his crucifix- 
ion, and intended to deaden in 
him the anguish of his sufferings. 
It was a custom among the He- 
brews to give such kinds of stu- 
pifying liquors to persons who 
were about to be capitally pun- 
ished. Prov. 31:6. Some have 
thought that the myrrhed wine of 



Mark is the same as the " wine 
mingled with gall " of Matthew j 
but others distinguish them. 
They suppose the myrrhed wine 
was given to our Lord from 
a sentiment of sympathy, to 
prevent him from feeling too 
sensibly the pain of his suffer- 
ings ; while the potation min- 
gled with gall, of which he would 
not drink, was given from cru- 
elty. But the more probable 
account of this transaction is 
given under the article Gall, 
which see. 

MYRTLE, a beautiful ever- 
green tree, growing wild through- 
out the southern parts of Europe, 
the north of Africa, and the tem- 
perate parts of Asia ; principally 
on the sea-coast. The leaves are 
of a rich and polished evergreen ; 
the flowers white, with sometimes 
a tinge of red externally ; and 
the berries are of the size of a 
small pea, violet or whitish, 
sweetish, and with the aromatic 
flavor which distinguishes the 
whole plant. These are eaten 
in the Levant. Isa.41:19. 55:13 
Zech. 1:8,10,11. 

MYSIA, a province of Asia 
Minor, bounded north by the 
Propontis, west by the Egean 
sea, south by Lydia, and east 
by Bithynia. Paul preached in 
this country. Acts 16:7,8. 

MYSTERY means strictly a 
secret, and is so used when spo- 
ken of the heathen mysteries or 
secret rites, which were full of all 
manner of abominations. But in 
Scripture, mystery is frequently 
taken for secrets of a higher 
order, supernatural, for those 
the knowledge of which God has 
reserved to himself, or has some- 
times communicated to his proph- 
ets and friends. Daniel gives to 
God the name of " revealer of 
secrets ; " he tells Nebuchadnez- 
zar, that only God who reigns in 



NAB 



[216] 



NAH 



heaven can reveal hidden mys- 
teries, things to come. Dan. 2: 
22,28. 

Our Saviour says to his disci- 
ples, that they are peculiarly hap- 
py, because God has revealed to 
them the mysteries of the king- 
dom of heaven. Matt. 16:17. 
11:25. Luke 10:21— 24. Paul 
often speaks of the mystery of 
the gospel, of the mystery of the 
cross of Christ, of the mystery 
of Christ which was unknown to 
former ages, of the mystery of 
the resurrection, &c. These, 
then, were called mysteries, the 
doctrines of the gospel, the tenets 
of Christianity, and the Christian 
sacraments ; not only because 
they included secrets which had 
not been known, if the Son of 
God and his Holy Spirit had not 
revealed them, but also because 
they were not opened indifferent- 
ly to every body ; according to 
the ad\ ice of Christ to his apos- 
tles, " Give not that which is holy 



unto the dogs, neither cast ye 
your pearls before swine." 

Mystery signifies also an alle- 
gory, that is, a mode of informa- 
tion under which partial instruc- 
tion is given, a partial discovery 
is made, but there is still a cover 
of some kind, which preserves 
somewhat of secrecy : this the 
person who desires to know the 
secret thoroughly must endeavor 
to remove. So the mystery of 
the seven stars, Rev. 1 : 20, is an 
allegory representing the seven 
Asiatic churches under the fig- 
ure, or symbol, of seven burning 
lamps. So the mystery, " Baby- 
lon the Great," is an allegorical 
representation of the spiritual 
Babylon, spiritual idolatry, spir- 
itual fornication, &c. and to this 
agrees the expression afterwards, 
" I will tell thee the mystery of 
the woman f that is, I will ex- 
plain to thee the allegory of this 
figure. Rev. 17:5,7. 






N. 



NABAL, a rich, but churlish 
man, of the tribe of Judah, and x 
race of Caleb, who dwelt in the 
south of Judah, and who had a 
very numerous flock on Carmel, 
but refused to give David and his 
followers, in their distress, any 
provisions, though modestly re- 
quested to do so. David, resent- 
ing this harsh treatment, so con- 
trary to the usages of eastern 
hospitality, armed 400 of his 
people, and resolved to put Na- 
bal and his family to the sword. 
From this, however, he was dis- 
suaded, by the address of Abi- 
gail, Nabal's wife ; but Nabal, 
on learning this, was so struck 
with terror and astonishment, that 
he died ten days after. David 



afterwards married Abigail. 1 
Sam. c. 25. 

NADAB, son of Jeroboam I. 
king of Israel, succeeded his 
father, B. C. 950, and reigned 
but two years, being assassinat- 
ed, while besieging Gibbethon, 
by Baasha, son of Abijah, of the 
tribe of Tssachar, who usurped 
his kingdom. Scripture says Na- 
dab did evil in the sight of the 
Lord. IK. 15:25. 

NAHUM, the seventh of the 
twelve minor prophets. The- 
circumstances of Nahum's life are 
unknown. His prophecy con- 
sists of three chapters, which form 
one discourse, in which he foretells 
the destruction of Nineveh, in so 
powerful and vivid a manner, that 



NAP 



[ 217 ] 



NAZ 






he seems to have beeu on the 
very spot. 

Opinions are divided as to the 
time in which Nahum prophesied. 
The best interpreters adopt Je- 
rome's opinion, that he foretold 
the destruction of Nineveh in the 
time of Hezekiah, and after the 
war of Sennacherib in Egypt, 
mentioned by Berosus. Nahum 
speaks of the taking of No-am- 
mon, of the haughtiness of Rab- 
shakeh, and of the defeat of Sen- 
nacherib, as things that were 
past. He presupposes that the 
tribe of Judah were still in their 
own country, and that they there 
celebrated their festivals. He 
notices also the captivity and 
dispersion of the ten tribes. 

NAIL. The nail with which 
Jael killed Sisera was rather a 
tent-pin, such as is driven into 
the ground in order to fasten the 
sides of the tent, Sec. Judg. 4: 
21,22. 

NAKED. In the style of ori- 
ental writers, naked often means 
no more than undressed, or not 
fully dressed. So in John 21 : 7, 
Peter is said to have been naked, 
i. e. he had laid off his outer gar- 
ment, and had on only his inner 
garment or tunic. (See Gar- 
ments.) So probably in Mic. 1: 
8. Acts 19:16. A nation is said 
to be " naked," when stripped of 
its defences, &c. Exod. 32:25. 
2Chr. 28:19. 

Nakedness is also put for 
shame. 

NAOMI, wife of Elimelech, 
and mother-in-law of Ruth. See 
Ruth. 

NAPHTALI, the sixth son of 
Jacob, by Bilhah, Rachel's hand- 
maid. Gen. 30:8. We know 
but few particulars of the life of 
Naphtali. His sons were four, 
Gen. 46:24. The patriarch Ja- 
cob, when he gave his blessing, 
said, as it is in the English Bible, 
19 



" Naphtali is a hind let loose ; 
he giveth goodly words. v Gen. 
49:21. For an illustration of 
this passage, see Hind. 

NARCISSUS, a freedmanand 
favorite of the Roman emperor 
Claudius, who possessed great 
influence at court. Rom. 16 : 11. 
NATHAN, a prophet, who 
lived under David, and had much 
of the confidence of that prince, 
whom he served in a number of 
ways. See 2 Sam. c. 7. c. 12, 
&c. The time and manner of 
Nathan's death are not known. 
1 Chr. 29:29, notices that he, 
with Gad, wrote the history of 
David. There are several other 
persons of this name mentioned 
in Scripture ; one of them a son 
of David. 2 Sam. 5:14. 

NATHANAEL, a disciple of 
Christ, the manner of whose con- 
version is related John 1:45,46, 
&c. He is probably the same 
as Bartholomew. See Bar- 
tholomew. 

NAZARENE, see Naza- 

R1TE. 

NAZARETH, a city of lower 
Galilee, in the territory of the 
tribe of Zebulun. It is situated 
on the side of a hill overlooking 
a narrow valley, entirely sur- 
rounded by the hills, except a nar- 
row outlet towards the south. At 
the mouth of this ravine is now 
shown the place where the men 
of the city were about to cast 
Jesus from the precipice. Luke 
4:29. Nazareth is a few miles 
north-west of mount Tabor, and 
nearly equidistant from the lake 
of Tiberias and the Mediterra- 
nean. It is said in the N. T. to 
be the city of Jesus, because it 
was the place of his conception 
and subsequent education. Com- 
pare Luke 1 :26, and Matt. 2:23. 

The following description of 
Nazareth, and the " brow of the 
hill" on which it stood, is give» 



NAZ 



[ 213 ] 



NAZ 






by Dr. Jowett: "Nazareth is 
situated on the side, and extends 
nearly to the foot, of a hill, which, 
though not very high, is rather 
steep and overhanging. The eye 
naturally wanders over its sum- 
mit, in quest of some point from 
which it might probably be that 
the men of this place endeavor- 
ed to cast our Saviour down, 
Luke 4:29, but in vain : no rock 
adapted to such an object ap- 
pears here. At the foot of the 
hill is a modest, simple plain, 
surrounded by low hills, reaching 
in length nearly a mile ; in 
breadth, near the city, a hundred 
and fifty yards ; but farther south, 
about four hundred yards. On 
this plain there are a few olive- 
trees, and fig-trees, sufficient, or 
rather scarcely sufficient, to make 
the spot picturesque. Then fol- 
lows a ravine, which gradually 
grows deeper and narrower to- 
wards the south ; till, after walk- 
ing about another mile, you find 
yourself in an immense chasm, 
with steep rocks on either side, 
from whence you behold, as it 
were beneath your feet, and be- 
fore you, the noble plain of Es- 
draelon. Nothing can be finer 
than the apparently immeasura- 
ble prospect of this plain, bound- 
ed to the south by the mountains 
of Samaria. The elevation of 
the hills on which the spectator 
stands in this ravine is very great ; 
and the whole scene, when we 
saw it, was clothed in the most 
rich mountain-blue color that can 
be conceived. At this spot, on 
the right hand of the ravine, is 
shown the rock to which the men 
of Nazareth are supposed to 
have conducted our Lord, for 
the purpose of throwing him 
down. With the Testament in 
our hands, we endeavored to ex- 
amine the probabilities of the 
spot j and I confess there is 



nothing in it which excites a scru 
pie of incredulity in my mind. 
The rock here is perpendicular 
for about fifty feet, down which 
space it would be easy to hurl a 
person who should be unawares 
brought to the summit j and his 
perishing would be a very certain 
consequence. That the spot 
might be at a considerable dis- 
tance from the city, is an idea 
not inconsistent with St. Luke's 
account 3 for the expression, 
thrusting Jesus out of the city, 
and leading him to the brow of 
the hill on which their city was 
built, gives fair scope for imagin- 
ing, that, in their rage and de- 
bate, the Nazarenes might, with- 
out originally intending his mur- 
der, press upon him for a consid- 
erable distance after they had 
quitted the synagogue. The dis- 
tance, as already noticed, from 
modern Nazareth to this spot, is 
scarcely two miles — a space 
which, in the fury of persecution, 
might soon be passed over. Or 
should this appear too considera- 
ble, it is by no means certain 
but that Nazareth may at that 
time have extended through the 

frincipal part of the plain, which 
have described as lying before 
the modern town : in this case, 
the distance passed over might 
not exceed a mile. It remains 
only to note the expression- — the 
brow of the hill, on which their 
city was built : this, according to 
the modern aspect of the spot, 
would seem to be the hill nordi 
of the town, on the lower slope 
of which the town is built; but 
I apprehend the word hill to have 
in this, as it has in very many 
other passages of Scripture, a 
much larger sense ; denoting 
sometimes a range of moun- 
tains, and in some instances a 
whole mountainous district. In 
all these cases the singular word 



NAZ 



[ 219 ] 



NEB 



"hill," "gebel," is used, accord- 
ing' to the idiom of" the language 
of this country. Thus, any person, 
coming from Jerusalem, and en- 
tering on the plain of Esdraelon, 
would, if asking the name of that 
bold line of mountains which 
bounds the north side of the 
plain, be informed that it was Ge- 
bel Nasra, the hill of Nazareth 5 
though, in English, we should 
call them the mountains of Naz- 
areth. Now the spot shown as 
illustrating Luke 4:29, is, in fact, 
on the very brow of this lofty 
ridge of mountains 5 in compari- 
son of which, the hill upon which 
the modern town is built is but 
a gentle eminence. I can see, 
therefore, no reason for thinking 
otherwise, than that this may be 
the real scene where our divine 
Prophet, Jesus, experienced so 
great a dishonor from the men 
of his own country, and of his 
own kindred." 

NAZARITE, or Nazakene, 
is either an inhabitant of Naza- 
reth, or a person under the vow 
of a Nazarite. A Nazarite, un- 
der the ancient law, was a man 
or woman engaged by a vow to 
abstain from wine and all intoxi- 
cating liquors, to let the hair 
grow, not to enter any house 
polluted by having a dead body 
in it, nor to be present at any 
funeral. If, by accident, any 
one should have died in their 
presence, they recommenced the 
whole of their consecration and 
Nazariteship. This vow gener- 
ally lasted eight days, sometimes 
a month, and sometimes during 
their whole lives. When the 
time of Nazariteship was expired, 
the person brought an offering to 
the temple ; the priest then cut 
off his hair and burnt it ; after 
which the Nazarite was free from 
his vow, and might again drink 
wine. Num. c. 6. Perpetual 



Nazarites were consecrated as 
such by their parents from their 
birth, and continued all their lives 
in this state, neither drinking 
wine, nor cutting their hair. 
Such were Samson and John the 
Baptist. Judg. 13:4,5. Luke 
1:15. 7:33. 

Those who made a vow of 
Nazariteship out of Palestine, 
and could not come to the tem- 
ple when their vow was expired, 
contented themselves with ob- 
serving the abstinence required 
by the law, and cutting off their 
hair in the place where they 
were. The offerings and sacri- 
fices prescribed by Moses, to be 
offered at the temple, by them- 
selves, or by others for them, 
the)' deferred, till a convenient 
opportunity. Hence Paul, being 
at Corinth, having made the vow 
of a Nazarite, he had his hair 
cut off at Cenchrea, but deferred 
the complete fulfilment of his 
vow till he came to Jerusalem. 
Acts 18:18. 

NEAPOLIS, now called Na 
poli, Acts 16:11, a maritime city 
of Macedonia, near the borders 
of Thrace, whither Paul came 
from the isle of Samothracia. 
From Neapolis he went to Phi- 
lippi. 

NEBO, the name of a city, a 
mountain and an idol. 

1. A city of Reuben, Num. 32: 
38, taken by the Moabites, who 
held it in the time of Jeremiah. 
Jer. 48:1. 

2. A high mountain east of 
Jordan, whence Moses had a view 
of the promised land, and where 
he died. It is a summit of the 
range Abarim, or Pisgah, over 
against Jericho. Deut. 32:49. 
c. 34. 

3. An idol of the Babylonians, 
Is. 46:1. In the astrological 
mythology of the Babylonians, 
this idol probably represented 



NEB 



[ 220 ] 



NEB 



the planet Mercury. He was re- 
garded as the scribe of the heav- 
ens, who records the succession 
of celestial and terrestrial events ; 
and was related to the Egyptian 
Hermes and Anubis. He was 
also worshipped by the ancient 
Arabians. The extensive preva- 
lence of this worship, among the 
Chaldeans and Assyrians, is evi- 
dent from the many compound 
proper names occurring in the 
Scriptures, of which this word 
forms part; as Nebuchadnezzar, 
Nebuzaradan, Nebusltasban ; and 
also in the classics, as Naboned, 
Nabonassar, Nabopolassar, &c. 
NEBUCHADNEZZAR, son 
and successor of Nabopolassar, 
succeeded to the kingdom of 
Chaldea about 600 B. C. He 
had been some time before asso- 
ciated in the kingdom, and sent to 
recover Carchemish, which had 
been wrested from the empire by 
Necho king of Egypt. Having 
been successful, he marched 
against the governor of Phoeni- 
cia, and Jehoiakim king of Ju- 
dah, tributary to Necho king of 
Egypt. He took Jehoiakim, 
and put him in chains to carry 
him captive to Babylon ; but af- 
terwards he left him in Judea, 
on condition of his paying a large 
tribute. He took away several 
persons from Jerusalem ; among 
others, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael 
and Azariah, all of the royal fam- 
ily, whom the king of Babylon 
caused to be carefully educated 
in the language and learning of 
the Chaldeans, that they might 
be employed at court. 2 K. 24: 
1. 2Chr. 36:6. Dan. 1:1. 

Nabopolassar dying, Nebu- 
chadnezzar, who was then either 
in Egypt or in Judea, hastened 
to Babylon, leaving to his gene- 
rals the care of bringing to Chal- 
dea the captives taken in Syria, 
Judea, Phoenicia and Egypt; 



for, according to Berosus, he had 
subdued all these countries. He 
distributed these captives into 
several colonies, and in the tem- 
ple of Belus he deposited the 
sacred vessels of the temple of 
Jerusalem, and other rich spoils. 
Jehoiakim, king of Judah, con- 
tinued three years in fealty to 
Nebuchadnezzar, and then re- 
volted ; but after three or four 
years, he was besieged and taken 
in Jerusalem, put to death, and 
his body thrown to the birds of 
the air, according to the predic- 
tions of Jeremiah. 

His successor, Jehoiachin, or 
Jeconiah, king of Judah, having 
revolted against Nebuchadnez- 
zar, was besieged in Jerusalem, 
forced to surrender, and taken, 
with his chief officers, captive to 
Babylon ; also his mother, his 
wives, and the best workmen of 
Jerusalem, to the number of ten 
thousand men. Among the cap- 
tives were Mordecai, the un- 
cle of Esther, and Ezekiel the 
prophet. Esth. 2:6. Nebuchad- 
nezzar also took all the vessels 
of gold which Solomon made for 
the temple and the king's treas- 
ury ; and set up Mattaniah, Jec- 
oniah's uncle by the father's 
side, whom he named Zedekiah. 
Zedekiah continued faithful to 
Nebuchadnezzar nine years, at 
the end of which time he rebel- 
led, and confederated with the 
neighboring princes. The king 
of Babylon came into Judea, 
reduced the chief places of the 
country, and besieged Jerusa- 
lem ; but Pharaoh Hophra com- 
ing out of Egypt to assist Zede- 
kiah, Nebuchadnezzar went to 
meet him, and forced him to re- 
tire to his own country. This 
done, he resumed the siege of 
Jerusalem, and was 390 days be- 
fore the place. In the eleventh 
year of Zedekiah, the city was 



NEC 



[ 221 



NEH 



taken, and Zedekiah, being 
seized, was brought to Nebu- 
chadnezzar, who was then at 
Riblah in Syria. The king of 
Babylon condemned him to die, 
caused his children to be put to 
death in his presence, and then 
bored out his eyes, loaded him 
with chains, and sent him to 
Babylon. 2 K. c. 24, 25. 2 Chr. 
c. 36. 

During the reign of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, the city of Babylon, and 
the kingdom of Babylonia, at- 
tained their highest pitch of 
splendor. He took great pains 
in adorning Babylon 5 and this 
was one great object of his pride. 
" Is not this," said he, " great 
Babylon that I have built, for the 
house of my kingdom, by the 
might of my power, and for the 
honor of my majesty ?." But 
God vanquished his pride, and 
he was reduced for a time to the 
condition of an idiot, a brute, 
according to the predictions 
of Daniel. See Dan. c. 1 — 4. 
Nebuchadnezzar is supposed to 
have died B. C. 562, after a 
reign of thirty-five years. 

NECHO, king of Egypt, car- 
ried his arms to the Euphrates, 
where he conquered the city of 
Carchemish. He is known not 
only in Scripture, but in Hero- 
dotus, who says that he was son 
of Psammetichus, king of Egypt, 
and that, having succeeded him 
in the kingdom, he raised great 
armies, and sent out great fleets, 
as well on the Mediterranean as 
the Red sea. Josiah, king of 
Judah, being tributary to the 
king of Babylon, opposed Necho, 
and gave him battle at Megiddo, 
where he received the wound of 
which he died ; and Necho passed 
forward, without making any 
long stay in Judea. On his 
return, he halted at Riblah, in 
Syria 5 and sending for Jehoa- 
19 * 



haz, king of the Jews, he de- 
posed him, loaded him with 
chains, and sent him into Egypt. 
Then coming to Jerusalem, he 
set up Eliakim, or Jehoiakim, in 
his place, and exacted the pay- 
ment of one hundred talents of 
silver and one talent of gold. 
Jeremiah, 46 : 2, acquaints us, that 
Carchemish was retaken by Na- 
bopolassar, king of Babylon, in 
the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 
king of Judah ; so that Necho 
did not retain his conquest above 
four years. 

NEGINOTH, a term which is 
read before some of the Psalms, 
and signifies stringed instru- 
ments of music, to be played on 
by the fingers. The titles of 
these Psalms may be translated, 
" A Psalm of David to the mas- 
ter of music, who presides over 
the stringed instruments." 

NEHEMIAH, the son of 
Hachaliah, was born at Babylon 
during the captivity. He was, 
according to some, of the race 
of the priests j according to 
others, of the royal family of 
Judah. He sustained the office 
of cup-bearer to the Persian 
king Artaxerxes Longimanus. 
Touched with the calamitous 
state of the colony of Jews 
which had formerly returned to 
Jerusalem, he besought the king 
of Persia to permit him to go to 
Jerusalem and aid in rebuilding 
it. He was accordingly sent as 
governor thither, in the twentieth 
year of Artaxerxes, about 444 
B. C. He directed his attention 
chiefly to rebuilding the walls of 
the city. The enmity of the Sa- 
maritans, under which the colony 
had formerly suffered, was now 
increased ; and under Sanballat, 
the governor of the country, they 
cast all possible hinderances in 
the way of the Jews. They 
even went so far as to attack the 



NEI 



[ 222 ] 



NET 



laborers at their work; so that 
Nehemiah had to cause them to 
work armed. Nehemiah was 
distinguished for disinterested- 
ness and liberality ; and institut- 
ed many excellent arrangements 
and regulations of a civil kind. 
He was very severe in respect 
to those Jews who had married 
heathen wives ; and required that 
they should either abandon them, 
or else themselves quit the colony. 
It was probably this voluntary 
exile of a number of discon- 
tented priests, that gave occa- 
sion to the building of a temple 
on mount Gerizim, and the es- 
tablishment of the Samaritan 
worship. See Sanballat. 

The book of Neliemiah con- 
tains the history of all these 
transactions, written by himself. 

NEHILOTH, a word found 
at the beginning of the fifth 
Psalm, and which signifies prob- 
ably the Jlutes, or wind instru- 
ments. The title of the fifth 
Psalm may be thus translated : 
" A Psalm of David, addressed 
to the master of music, presiding 
over the flutes." 

NEHUSHTAN, brazen, m a 
name given by Hezekiah king 
of Judah to the brazen serpent 
that Moses had set up in the 
wilderness, Numb. 21:8, and 
which had been preserved by 
the Israelites to that time. The 
superstitious people having made 
an idol of this serpent, Hezekiah 
caused it to be burned, and in de- 
rision gave it the name of Ne- 
hushtan, i. e. httle brazen serpent. 
2 K. 18:4. 

NEIGHBOR signifies in Scrip- 
ture, a fellow countryman, one 
of the same tribe or vicinage ; 
and generally, any man con- 
nected with us by the bonds of 
humanity, and whom charity re- 
quires that we should consider 
as a friend and relative. At the 



time of our Saviour, the Phari- 
sees had restrained the meaning 
of the word neighbor to those 
of their own nation, or to their 
own friends ; holding, that to hate 
their enemy was not forbidden 
by the law. Matt. 5:43* But 
our Saviour informed them, that 
the whole world were neighbors ; 
that they ought not to do to an- 
other what they would not have 
done to themselves ; and that 
this charity extended even to en- 
emies. See the beautiful para- 
ble of the good Samaritan, the 
real neighbor to the distressed. 
Luke 10:29. 

NERGAL, one of the gods of 
those heathen who were trans- 
planted into Palestine. 2 Kings 
17:30. This idol probably rep- 
resented the planet Mars, which 
was ever the emblem of blood- 
shed. Mars is named, by the 
Zabians and Arabians, ill-luck, 
misfortune. He was represented 
as holding in one hand a drawn 
sword, and in the other, by the 
hair, a human head just cut off; 
his garments were blood red ; 
as the light of the planet is also 
reddish. His temple among the 
Arabs was painted red ; and 
they offered to him garments 
sprinkled with blood, and also a 
warrior, (probably a prisoner,) 
who was cast into a pool. It is 
related of the caliph Hakem, 
that, in the last night of his life, 
as he observed the stars, and 
saw the planet Mars rise above 
the horizon, he murmured be- 
tween his lips, "Dost thou as- 
cend, thou accursed shedder of 
blood ? then is my hour come I" 
and at the moment the assassins 
sprang upon him from their 
hiding place. The name Ner- 
gal appears also in the proper 
names Nergalsharezer, Neriglas- 
sar. 

NETHINIM, given, or conse- 



NEW 



[ 223 ] 



NIC 



crated, i. e. servants dedicated to 
the service of the tabernacle and 
temple, to perform the most la- 
borious ofhces ; as carrying of 
wood and water. At first the 
Gibeonites were destined to this 
station ; afterwards, the Canaan- 
ites who surrendered themselves, 
and whose lives were spared. 
We read, in Ezra 8 : 20, that the 
Nethinim were slaves devoted 
by David, and other princes, to 
the service of the temple ; and 
in Ezra 2:58, that they were 
slaves given by Solomon 5 the 
children of Solomon's servants. 
From 1 K. 9:20,21, we see that 
he had subdued the remains of 
the Canaanites, and it is very 
probable, that he gave a good 
number of them to the priests 
and Levites, for the temple ser- 
vice. The Nethinim were car- 
ried into captivity with the tribe 
of Judah, and great numbers 
were placed not far from the 
Caspian sea, whence Ezra 
brought 220 of them into Judea. 
c. 8:17. 

NEW MOON. The new 
moon was the commencement of 
each of the Hebrew months. 
(See Month.) The Hebrews 
had a particular veneration for 
the first day of every month, for 
which Moses appointed peculiar 
sacrifices, Numb. 28:11,12 3 but 
he gave no orders that it should 
be kept as a holy day, nor can 
it be proved that the ancients ob- 
served it as such : it was a festival 
of merely voluntary devotion. 
It appears that even from the 
time of Saul, they made, on this 
day, a sort of family entertain- 
ment, since David ought then to 
have been at the king's table 5 
and Saul took his absence amiss. 
1 Sam. 20:5,18. Moses implies 
that, besides the national sacri- 
fices then regularly offered, every 
private person had his particu- 



lar sacrifices of devotion. Numb. 
10:10. The beginning of the 
month was proclaimed by sound 
of trumpet, at the offering of sol- 
emn sacrifices. But the most 
celebrated neomenia, or new 
moon, was that at the beginning 
of the civil year, or first day ot 
the month Tizri. Lev. 23:24. 
This was a sacred festival, on 
which no servile labor was per- 
formed. In the kingdom of the 
ten tribes, the people used to 
assemble at the houses of the 
prophets, to bear their instruc- 
tions. 2K.4:23. Isa. 1:13,14. 
Ezekiel says, 45:17, (see also 
1 Chr. 23:31. 2 Chr. 8:13,) 
that the burnt-offerings offered 
on the day of the new moon 
were provided at the king's ex- 
pense. 

NIBHAZ, a god of the Avim, 
or Hivites. 2 K. 17:31. The 
Jewish interpreters say the name 
means latrator, barker, and af- 
firm that this idol had the shape 
of a dog. Historical traces 
have also been found of the an- 
cient worship of idols in the 
form of dogs among the Syrians. 
In the Zabian books, Nibhaz oc- 
curs as the lord of darkness j 
which, according to the character 
of the Assyrian-Chaldean my- 
thology, would point to an evil 
planetary demon. 

NICANOR, one of the first 
seven deacons, who were chosen 
and appointed at Jerusalem soon 
after the descent of the Holy 
Ghost, on occasion of a division 
among the believers, into those 
who spoke Greek, and those who 
spoke Hebrew, or Syriac. Acts 
6:5, &c. Nothing particular is 
known of him. 

NICODEMUS, a disciple of 
Jesus, a Jew by nation, and by 
sect a Pharisee. He was one of 
the senators of the sanhedrim, 
John c. 3, and at first concealed 



NIC 



[ 224 ] 



NIL 



his belief in the divine character 
of our Lord. Afterwards, how- 
ever, he avowed himself a believ- 
er, when he came with Joseph 
of Arimathea to pay the last du- 
ties to the body of Christ, which 
they took down from the cross, 
embalmed, and laid in the sep- 
ulchre. John 19:39. 

NICOLAITANS, heretical 
persons or teachers, mentioned 
Rev. 2:6,15. Some suppose 
them to be followers of Nicolas 
the deacon, but there is no good 
evidence that he ever became a 
heretic. In regard to the Nico- 
laitans, a more probable suppo- 
sition is, that the appellation is 
not here derived from a proper 
name, but is symbolical ; and 
that it refers to the same persons 
who are said, in Rev. 2:14, to 
hold the doctrine of Balaam; 
since the Greek name Nicolas 
corresponds to the Hebrew Bala- 
am, and signifies to overcome, 
seduce, a people. The allusion, 
then, would be to false and se- 
ducing teachers like Balaam ; 
and refers more particularly, per- 
haps, to those who opposed the 
decree of the apostles in Acts 
15 : 29. Compare the use of Jez- 
ebel, in Rev. 2:20. 

NICOLAS, a proselyte of 
Antioch, that is, one converted 
from paganism to the religion of 
the Jews. He afterwards em- 
braced Christianity, and was 
among the most zealous and 
most holy of the first Christians ; 
so that he was chosen one of 
the first seven deacons of the 
church at Jerusalem. Acts 6:5. 

NICOPOL1S, the name of 
several ancient cities. In Tit. 
3 : 12, Paul probably refers to the 
Nicopolis of Thrace, situated on 
the river Nestus, near the borders 
of Macedonia, and hence called, 
in the subscription to the epistle, 
Nicopolis of Macedonia. Others 



suppose him to have meant Ni- 
copolis in Epirus, which stood 
near the mouth of the Ambracian 
gulf, opposite to Actium ; and 
which was built by Augustus in 
honor of his decisive victory 
over Antony. 

NIGHT. The ancient He- 
brews began their artificial day 
at evening, and ended it the next 
evening, so that the night pre- 
ceded the day ; whence it is said, 
Gen. 1 : 5, evening and morning 
the first day. They allowed 
twelve hours to the night, and 
twelve to the day; but these 
hours were not equal, except at 
the equinox. At other times, 
when the hours of the night were 
long, those of the day were 
short, as in winter ; and contrari- 
wise, when the hours of night 
were short, as at midsummer, the 
hours of the day were long in 
proportion. See Hours. 

NIGHT-HAWK should be 
rendered, more properly, the 
night owl, (strix orientalis,) 
which Hasselquist thus de- 
scribes : " It is of the size of the 
common owl, and lodges in the 
large buildings or ruins of Egypt 
and Syria, and sometimes even in 
the dwelling-houses. The Arabs 
settled in Egypt call this owl 
massasa, and the Syrians, banu. 
It is extremely voracious in 
Syria ; to such a degree, that if 
great care is not taken to shut 
the windows at the coming on of 
night, it enters the houses and 
kills the children 5 the women, 
therefore, are very much afraid 
of it." 

NILE, the celebrated river of 
Egypt. It takes this name only 
after the junction of the two 
great streams of which it is com- 
posed, viz. the Bakr el Abiad, or 
White river, which rises in the 
Mountains of the Moon, ill the 
interior of Africa, and runs north- 



NIL 



[ 225 ] 



N IL 



east till it is joined by the other 
branch, the Bahr el Azrek, or 
Blue river, which rises in Abys- 
sinia, and after a large circuit to 
the south-east and south-west, 
in which it passes through the 
lake of Dembea, flows north- 
wards to join the White river. 
This Abyssinian branch has in 
modern times been regarded as 
the real Nile, although the 
White river is much the largest 
and longest, and was, in ancient 
times, considered as the true 
Nile. The junction takes place 
about lat. 16° north. From this 
point the Nile flows always in a 
northerly direction, with the ex- 
ception of one large bend to the 
west. It receives the Tacazze, 
a large stream from Abyssinia, 
and having passed through Nu- 
bia, it enters Egypt at the cata- 
racts near Syene, or Essuan, 
which are formed by a chain of 
rocks stretching east and west. 
There are here three falls ; after 
which the river pursues its course 
in still and silent majesty through 
the whole length of the land of 
Egypt. In Lower Egypt it di- 
vides into several branches and 
forms the celebrated Delta ; for 
which see under Egypt. 

The whole physical and politi- 
cal existence of Egypt may be 
said to depend on the Nile ; since 
without this river, and even with- 
out its regular annual inunda- 
tions, the whole land would be 
but a desert. These inundations 
are caused by the regular period- 
ical rains in the countries farther 
south, around the sources of the 
Nile, in March and later. The 
river begins to rise in Egypt 
about the middle of June, and 
continues to increase through 
the month of July. In August it 
overflows its banks, and reaches 
its highest point early in Septem- 
ber j and the country is then 



mostly covered with its waters. 
In the beginning of October, the 
inundation still continues ; and 
it is only towards the end of this 
month, that the stream returns 
within its banks. From the mid- 
dle of August till towards the 
end of October, the whole land 
of Egypt resembles a great lake 
or sea, in which the towns and 
cities appear as islands. 

The cause of the fertility which 
the Nile imparts lies not only in 
its thus watering the land, but 
also in the thick slimy mud 
which its waters bring down 
along with them and deposit on 
the soil of Egypt. It is like a 
coat of rich manure ; and the 
seed being immediately sown 
upon it, without digging or 
ploughing, springs up rapidly, 
grows with luxuriance, and 
ripens into abundance. See 
Egypt. 

It must not, however, be sup- 
posed, that the Nile spreads 
itself over every spot of land, and 
waters it sufficiently without ar- 
tificial aid. Niebuhr justly re- 
marks : " Some descriptions of 
Egypt would lead us to think 
that the Nile, when it swells, lays 
the whole province under water. 
The lands immediately adjoining 
to the banks of the river are in- 
deed laid under water, but the 
natural inequality of the ground 
hinders it from overflowing the 
interior country. A great part 
of the lands would therefore re- 
main barren, were not canals and 
reservoirs formed to receive wa- 
ter from the river, when at its 
greatest height, which is thus 
conveyed every where through 
the fields, and reserved for wa- 
tering them, when occasion re- 
quires." In order to raise the 
water to grounds which lie high- 
er, machines have been used in 
Egypt from time immemorial. 



NIL 



[ 226 ] 



NIN 



These are chiefly wheels to which 
buckets are attached. One kind 
is turned by oxen ; another 
smaller kind, by men treading 
upon them ; to which there is an 
allusion in Deut. 11 : 10. 

As the inundations of the Nile 
are of so much importance to 
the whole land, columns have 
ever been erected, on which the 
beginning and progress of its 
rise might be observed. These 
are called Nilometers, i. e. " Nile 
measures." At present there is 
one on the little island opposite 
Cairo, which is under the care of 
the government, and according 
to which the beginning and sub- 
sequent progress of the rise of the 
Nile are carefully observed and 
proclaimed by authority If the 
inundation reaches the height of 
twenty-two feet, a rich harvest is 
expected; because then all the 
fields have received the requi- 
site irrigation. If it falls short of 
this height, and in proportion as 
it thus falls short, the land is 
threatened with want and famine, 
of which many horrible exam- 
ples occur in Egyptian history. 
Should the rise of the water 
exceed twenty-eight feet, a fam- 
ine is in like manner feared. 

The water of the Nile, al- 
though during a great part of the 
year turbid, from the effects of 
the rains above, yet furnishes, 
when purified by settling, the 
softest and sweetest water for 
drinking in the world. The 
Egyptians are full of its praises •, 
and it is also celebrated by all 
travellers. 

The Hebrews sometimes give 
to both the Euphrates and the Nile 
the name of sea. Is. 19 : 5. Nahum 
3-8. In this they are borne out 
by Arabic writers, who also speak 
of the Nile as a sea. The Nile 
is also to the present day cele- 
brated for its fish. Comp. Num. 



11:5. Is 19:8. In its waters are 
likewise found the crocodile, or 
leviathan, and the hippopotamus, 
or behemoth. See the article 
Egypt. 

NINEVEH, the metropolis of 
the Assyrian empire, called by 
the Greeks and Romans Ninus. 
Most writers have placed it up- 
on the eastern bank of the Tigris, 
above Babylon 5 while some rep- 
resent it as having stood on the 
western bank. It may very 
probably have occupied both. 
The city was of great extent and 
very splendid. Luke 11:32. 
See Gen: 10:11, and the book 
of Nahum. Diodorus Siculus 
says, it was 150 stadia in length, 
90 stadia in breadth, and 
480 stadia in circuit ; that is, 
about seven leagues long, three 
leagues broad, and eighteen 
leagues round. Its walls were a 
hundred feet high, and so broad, 
that three chariots could drive 
abreast upon them. Its towers, 
of which there were fifteen hun- 
dred, were each two hundred 
feet high. At the lime of Jonah's 
mission, Jonah 4:11, it was 
reckoned to contain more than 
120,000 persons " who could not 
distinguish their right hand from 
their left ;" that is, young chil- 
dren. By a computation founded 
on this basis, there ought to have 
been then in Nineveh more than 
600,000 persons. 

Nineveh, which had long been 
mistress of the East, was first 
taken by Arbaces and Belesis, 
under the reign of Sardanapalus, 
in the time of Ahaz, king of Ju- 
dah, about the time of the foun- 
dation of Rome, B. C. 753. It 
was taken a second time by 
Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 
about B. C. 632, after which it 
no more recovered its former 
splendor. It was entirely ruined 
in the time of Lucian of Samo- 



NIT 



[ 227 ] 



NOP 



sata, who lived under the empe- 
ror Adrian. It was rebuilt under 
the Persians, but was destroyed 
by the Saracens about the seventh 
century. 

Several writers are of opinion 
that the ruins on the eastern bank 
of the Tigris, opposite to the town 
of Mosul, point out the site of the 
ancient Nineveh. Mr. Rich, who 
was resident at Bagdad, de- 
scribes on this spot an enclosure 
of a rectangular form, corre- 
sponding with the cardinal points 
of the compass, but the area 
of which is too small to have 
contained a larger town than 
Mosul. The boundary of this 
enclosure, which he supposes to 
answer to the palace of Nineveh, 
may be perfectly traced all 
around, and looks like an em- 
bankment of earth or rubbish, 
of small elevation ; and has 
attached to it, and in its line, 
at several places, mounds of 
greater size and solidity. 

NISAN, a Hebrew month, 

» partly answering to our March ; 

and which sometimes takes from 
February or April, according to 
the course of the moon. It was 
the seventh month of the civil 
year; but was made the first 
month of the sacred year, at the 
coming out of Egypt. Ex. 12 : 2. 
By Moses it is called Abib. Ex. 
13:4. The name Nisan is found 
only after the time of Ezra, and 
the return from the captivity 
of Babylon. See Months. 

NISROCH, a god of the As- 
syrians. 2 K. 19:37. Accord- 
ing to the etymology, the name 
would signify eagle. Among the 
ancient Arabs, also, the eagle 
occurs as an idol. 

NITRE, a sort of salt, or of 
saltpetre, a mineral alkali, com- 
mon in Palestine, Arabia and 
Egypt. The Hebrews call it 
nether, and use this word to ex- 



press a salt proper to take spots 
out of cloth, and even from the 
face. Mixed with oil, it is still 
used at the present day, in the 
East, for soap. The nitre com- 
mon among us, from which gun- 
powder is made, is apparently 
not the nitre of the Scriptures ; 
it is nearer, we believe, to sal- 
ammoniac. 

NO, or No-Ammok, a city of 
Egypt. See Ammon. 

NOAH, i. e. rest, the name of 
the celebrated patriarch who 
was preserved by Jehovah with 
his family, by means of the ark, 
through the deluge, and thus be- 
came the second founder of the 
human race. The history of 
Noah and the deluge is contain- 
ed in Gen. 5:28.— c. 9. See also 
Ark of Noah. 

NOD means wandering ; and 
the land of Nod, in Gen. 4:16, 
is, therefore, properly, land of 
wandering. 

NOPH, sometimes called also, 
in Hebrew, Moph, the ancient city 
of Memphis in Egypt. The 
ruins of it, though not to any 
great extent, are still found a 
few miles above Old Cairo, or 
Fostat. Isa. 19:13. Jer. 2:16. 
44:1. Ezek. 30:13,16. 

Memphis was the residence of 
the ancient kings of Egypt, till 
the times of the Ptolemies, who 
commonly resided at Alexandria. 
The prophets, in the places above 
referred to, foretell the miseries 
Memphis was to suffer from the 
kings of Chaldea and Persia, 
and they threaten the Israelites 
who should retire into Egypt, 
or should have recourse to the 
Egyptians, that they should per- 
ish in that country. In this city 
they fed the ox Apis ; and Eze- 
kiel says, that the Lord will de- 
stroy the idols of Memphis, c. 30 : 
13,16. Memphis retained its 
splendor till it was conquered by 



OAT 



[ 228 J 



OAT 



the Arabians in the eighteenth 
or nineteenth year of the Hegira, 
A. D. 641 ; after which it was 
superseded as the metropolis of 
Egypt by Fostat, now Old Cairo. 

NORTH. As it was custom- 
ary for the Hebrews to consider 
the cardinal points of the heavens 
in reference to a man whose face 
was turned toward the east, the 
north was consequently towards 
his left hand. See East. 

NOSE. The Hebrews com- 
monly place the seat of anger in 
the nose ; since the effect of an- 
ger is often hard breathing, and 



in animals, snorting. " There 
went up a smoke out of his nos- 
trils." 2 Sam. 22:9. Ps. 18:8. 
NUMBERS, the Book of, is 
so called because the first three 
chapters contain the numbering 
of the Hebrews and Levites, 
which was performed separately, 
after the erection and consecra- 
tion of the tabernacle. The 
rest of the book contains an ac- 
count of the breaking up of the 
Israelites from Sinai, and their 
subsequent wanderings in the 
desert, until their arrival on the 
borders of Moab. See Exodus. 



O 



OAKS are often spoken of in 
Scripture. The word oak is put 
in our version for two Hebrew 
words ; one of which means 
properly the oak, while the other 
is sometimes rendered by the 
ancient versions oak, and some- 
times terebinth. This latter is the 
pistacia terebinthus of Lin- 
naeus, or the common turpentine 
tree, whose resin or juice is the 
Chian or Cyprus turpentine, used 
in medicine, and finer than that 
produced by the fir tribe. The 
tree grows to a large size and 
great age, and is common in Pal- 
estine. According to Pliny, it is 
an evergreen ; although this does 
not coincide with the experi- 
ence of modern botanists. The 
Hebrew word would seem rather 
to be used, in a broader sense, 
of any large tree in general. 
Gen. 35:4. Judg. 6:11,19. In 
Is. 6 : 13, it is improperly trans- 
lated text-tree, which is the same 
as the lime or linden. 

OATH, a solemn affirmation, 
accompanied by an appeal to the 
Supreme Being. God has pro- 
hibited all false oaths, and all 



useless and customary swearing 
in ordinary discourse; but when 
the necessity or importance of a 
matter requires an oath, he allows 
to swear by his name. Ex. 22: 11. 
Lev. 5:1. 

Among the Hebrews an oath 
was administered by the judge, 
who stood up, and adjured the 
party who was to be sworn. In 
this manner our Lord was ad- 
jured by Caiaphas. Matt. 26:63. 
Jesus had remained silent under 
long examination, when the high- 
priest, rising up, knowing he had 
a sure mode of obtaining an 
answer, said, " I adjure thee by 
the living God, that thou tell us 
whether thou be the Christ/' &c. 
To this oath, thus solemnly ad- 
ministered, Jesus confessed a 
good confession. 

An oath is a solemn appeal to 
God, as to an all-seeing witness, 
and an almighty avenger, if what 
we say be false. Heb. 6 : 16. It 
is an act of religious worship ; 
whence God requires it to be 
done in his name, Deut. 10:20, 
and points out the manner in 
which it ought to be administered, 



ODE 



[ 229 ] 



OFF 



and the duty of the person who 
swears. Deut. 6:13. Ps. 15:4. 
24:4. Hence atheists, who pro- 
fess to believe that there is no 
God, and persons who do not 
believe in a future state of reward 
and punishment, cannot consis- 
tently take an oath. In their 
mouths an oath can be only pro- 
fane mockery. 

God himself is represented as 
confirming' his promise by oath, 
and thus conforming himself to 
what is practised among men. 
Heb. 6 : 13,16,17. The oaths for- 
bidden Matt. 5: 34,35. Jam. 5 -.12, 
refer only to the unthinking, hasty 
and vicious practices of the Jews ; 
otherwise Paul would have acted 
against the command of Christ, 
Rom. 1:9. 2 Cor. 1:23. That 
person is obliged to take an oath 
whose duty requires him to de- 
clare the truth. As we are bound 
to manifest every possible degree 
of reverence towards God, the 
greatest care is to be taken that 
we swear neither rashly nor neg- 
ligently in making promises. To 
neglect performance is perjury 3 
unless the promise be contrary to 
the law of nature ; in which case 
no oath is binding. 

OBADIAH. There are sev- 
eral persons of this name men- 
tioned in the O. T. It is only 
necessary, however, that we 
should notice the prophet. It is 
not certain when he lived, but it 
is probable that he was contem- 
porary with Jeremiah and Eze- 
kiel, who denounced the same 
dreadful judgments on the Edom- 
ites, as the punishment of their 
pride, violence and cruel insult- 
mgs over the Jews, after the 
destruction of their city. The 
prophecy, according to Usher, 
was fulfilled about five years after 
the destruction of Jerusalem. 

ODED, a prophet of the Lord, 
who, being at Samaria, when the 



Israelites returned from the war 
against Judah, with their king 
Pekah, and brought 200,000 cap- 
tives, went to meet them, and 
remonstrated effectually with 
them ; so that the principal men 
in Samaria took care of them, 
gave them clothes, food and 
other assistances, with horses, 
because the greater part of them 
were exhausted and unable to 
walk. Thus they conducted them 
to Jericho. 2 Chr. 28:9, &c. 

OFFERINGS. The Hebrews 
had several kinds of offerings, 
which they presented at the tem- 
ple. Some were free-will offer- 
ings ; others were of obligation. 
The first-fruits, the tenths and the 
sin-offerings were of obligation : 
the peace-offerings, vows, offer- 
ings of wine, oil, bread, salt and 
other things, made to the temple, 
or to the ministers of the Lord, 
were offerings of devotion. The 
Hebrews called offerings in gen- 
eral corban ; but the offerings 
of bread, salt, fruits, and liquors, 
as wine and oil, presented to 
the temple, they called mincha. 
Sacrifices are not properly offer- 
ings ; nor are they generally in- 
cluded under this name. Offer- 
ings of grain, meal, bread, cakes, 
fruits, wine, salt, oil, were com- 
mon in the temple. Sometimes 
these offerings were alone ; some- 
times they accompanied the 
sacrifices. Honey was never 
offered with sacrifices, but it might 
be presented alone as first-fruits. 
Lev. 2:11,12. 

There were five sorts of offer- 
ings called mincha, or corban 
minclia. Lev. c. 2. (1.) Fine 
flour, or meal. (2.) Cakes of 
several sorts, baked in the oven. 
(3.) Cakes baked on a plate. 
(4.) Another sort of cakes baked 
on a plate with holes in it. (5.) 
The first-fruits of the new corn, 
which were offered either pure 



OIL 



230 ] 



OLI 



and without mixture, or roasted, 
or parched in the ear, or out of 
the ear. The cakes were knead- 
ed with oil-olive, or fried in a pan, 
or only dipped in oil after they 
were baked. The bread offered 
for the altar was without leaven ; 
for leaven was never offered on 
the altar nor with the sacrifices. 
Lev. 2:11,12. But they might 
make presents of common bread 
to the priests and ministers of 
the temple. These offerings were 
appointed in favor of the poor, 
who could not afford the charge 
of sacrificing animals. Those 
also who offered living victims 
were not excused from giving 
meal, wine and salt, which were 
to accompany the greater sacri- 
fices. Those who offered only 
oblations of bread, or of meal, 
offered also oil, incense, salt and 
wine, which were, in a manner, 
their seasoning. The priest in 
waiting received the offerings 
from the hand of him who brought 
them, laid a part on the altar, 
and reserved the rest for his own 
subsistence as a minister of the 
Lord. Nothing was wholly burn- 
ed up but the incense, of which 
the priest retained none. See 
Lev. 2 : 2,13, &c. Num. 1 5 : 4,5. 

The most of these offerings 
were voluntary, and of pure de- 
votion. But when an animal 
was offered in sacrifice, they 
were not at liberty to omit them. 
Every thing proper was to ac- 
company the sacrifice, and what 
served as seasoning to the victim. 
In some cases the law required 
only offerings of corn or bread, 
as when they offered the first- 
fruits of harvest, whether offered 
solemnly by the nation, or as the 
devotion of private persons. See 
First-Fruits ; and compare 
with this article, throughout, also 
the article Sacrifices. 

OIL. The Hebrews commonly 



anointed themselves with oil ; 
they anointed also their kings and 
high-priests. See Anointing. 

OINTMENT. As perfumes 
are seldom made up among us in 
the form of ointment, but mostly 
in that of essence, while ointments 
are rather medical, we do not 
always discern the beauty of 
those comparisons in Scripture, 
in which ointments are men- 
tioned. 

We read of ointments for the 
head ; our own pomatums, some 
of which are strongly scented, 
may indicate the nature of these, 
as being their representatives in 
this country. See Ecc. 9:8. 
10:1. 

OLIVE-TREE. Paul, in Rom. 
11 :24, distinguishes two kinds of 
olive-trees, the wild or natural, 
and those under care and culture. 
The cultivated olive-tree is of a 
moderate height, its trunk knotty, 
its bark smooth and ash-colored ; 
its wood is solid and yellowish ; 
the leaves are oblong, almost 
like those of the willow, of a 
green color, dark on the upper 
side, and white on the under side. 
In the month of June it puts out 
white flowers that grow in 
bunches. Each flower is of one 
piece, widening upwards, and 
dividing into four parts ; the fruit 
oblong and plump. It is first 
green, then pale, and when it is 
quite ripe, black. In the flesh of 
it is enclosed a hard stone, filled 
with an oblong seed. The wild 
olive is smaller in all its parts. 
The olive oil, prepared from the 
cultivated fruit, is now a great 
article of commerce and luxury. 

OLIVES, Mount of, a ridge 
lying east of Jerusalem, and sep- 
arated from it by the valley of 
the Kidron. Josephus speaks of 
it as five stadia, or furlongs, dis- 
tant from the city ; while in Acts 
1 : 12, the distance is said to be a 



OMR 



[ 231 ] 



OPH 



sabbath-day's journey, i. e. about 
fifteen furlongs. These state- 
ments doubtless refer to different 
parts of the mountain. It lias three 
summits, ranging Irom north to 
south, of which the middle one is 
the highest, and is regarded by the 
modern priests as the scene of 
our Saviours ascension. The 
summit of the mount of Olives 
commands a fine view of Jerusa- 
lem, and of the Dead sea and 
intervening country. See under 
Jerusalem. 

OMEGA, the last letter of the 
Greek alphabet. See under 
Alpha. 

OMER, or Gomer, a measure 
of capacity among the Hebrews ; 
the tenth part of an ephah ; a little 
more than five pints. 

OMRI was general of the 
army of Elah, king of Israel ; 
but being at the siege of Gibbe- 
thon, and hearing that his master 
Elah was assassinated by Zimri, 
who had usurped his kingdom, he 
raised the siege, and, being elect- 
ed king by his army, marched 
against Zimri, attacked him at 
Tirzah, and forced him to burn 
himself and all his family in the 
palace in which he had shut up 
himself. 1 K. 16:9, &c. After 
his death, half of Israel acknowl- 
edged Omri for king, the other 
half adhered to Tibni, son of 
Gineth 5 which division continued 
four years. When Tibni was 
dead, the people united in ac- 
knowledging Omri as king of 
all Israel, who reigned twelve 
years, six years at Tirzah, and 
six at Samaria. 1 K. c. 16. 

Tirzah had previously been the 
chief residence of the kings of 
Israel, but when Omri purchased 
the hill of Shomeron, 1 K. 16:24, 
he built there a new city, which 
he called Samaria, from the 
name of the first possessor, She- 
mer, or Shomer, and there fixed 



his royal seat. From this time 
Samaria was the capital of the 
kingdom of the ten tribes. 

ON, see Heliopolis. 

ONESIMUS had been a slave 
to Philemon of Colosse, and had 
run away from him, and fled to 
Rome ; but being converted to 
Christianity through the preach- 
ing of Paul, he was the occasion of 
Paul's writing the Epistle to Phi- 
lemon. Col. 4:9. Philem. 10. 

ONESIPHORUS, a Christian 
who came to Rome A. D. 65, 
while the apostle Paul was im- 
prisoned there for the faith, and at 
a time when almost every one had 
forsaken him. 2 Tim. 1:16,18. 
Having found Paul in bonds, 
after long seeking him, he assist- 
ed him to the utmost of his power, 
for which the apostle wishes all 
sorts of benedictions on himself 
and his family. 

ONYCHA. Ex. 30:34. The 
onycha is the blutta Byzantina 
of the shops. It consists of the 
cover or lid of a species of muscle, 
which, when burnt, emits a musky 
odor. The best onycha is found 
in the Red sea, and is white and 
!ar -e. The Babylonian is black 
and smaller, according to Dios- 
corides. 

ONYX was the eleventh stone 
in the hi^h-priest's pectoral. Ex. 
28 : 20. It is a kind of flesh-col- 
ored agate, whence it has obtain- 
ed the name of onyx, or the nail. 
See Sardonyx. 

OPHIR, a country to which 
the vessels of Solomon traded, 
and as to the situation of which 
there has been much discussion. 
On examining all the passages 
in which it is mentioned, 1 K. 
22:48 compared with 2 Chr. 
20:36, also 1 K. 9:28, it will be 
seen that the so called ships of 
Tarshish went to Ophir ; that these 
ships sailed from Ezion-geber, a 
port of the Red sea, 1 K. 22:48. 



ORG 



[ 232 ] 



OST 



9 : 26 ; that three years were re- 
quired for the voyage ; that the 
fleet returned freighted with gold, 
peacocks, apes, spices, ivory and 
ebony, 1 K. 9:28. 10: 11,12 ; 
comp. 2 Chron. 8:18. 9:10, &c. 
that the gold of Ophir was in the 
highest esteem ; and that the 
country of Ophir abounded more 
with gold than any other then 
known. Upon these data inter- 
preters have undertaken to de- 
termine the situation of Ophir, 
but almost all have arrived at 
different conclusions. Josephus 
places it in the Indies. Others 
have placed it at Sofala, in South 
Africa, where mines of gold and 
silver have been found, which 
appear to have been anciently 
and extensively worked. Oth- 
ers still, suppose it to be southern 
Arabia. 

From these statements it will 
be seen, that there is loom for 
great diversity of opimon as to 
the geographical situation of 
Ophir 5 and, indeed, it must ob- 
viously ever remain a matter of 
mere conjecture. 

ORACLE is properly a super- 
natural communication. As such 
it is applied to the divine revela- 
tions, the word of God. Acts 7: 
38. Rom. 3:2. Heb. 5:12,&c. 
It is also spoken of the lid or 
covering of the ark ; where 
God was supposed to sit enthron- 
ed, and make known his oracles. 
2 Sam. 16:23. (See Mercy- 
Seat.) In other places, it 
means the holy of holies in the 
temple, where the ark was 
placed. 1 K. 6:5,16,19. 8:6. 

ORGAN is put for a Hebrew 
word which signifies a wind in- 
strument apparently composed 
of several pipes. It cannot, 
however, mean the modern or- 
gan, which was unknown to the 
ancients ; but refers, most proba- 
bly, to the ancient syrinx, or 



pipes, similar to the Pandean 
pipes. Gen. 4:21. Job 21 : 12. 

ORION, one of the brightest 
constellations of the southern 
hemisphere. The Hebrew che- 
sil signifies, according to the 
best interpreters and the ancient 
versions, the constellation Orion, 
which, on account of its suppos- 
ed connection with storms and 
tempests, Virgil calls nimbosus 
Orion, i. e. stormy Orion. In 
Job 38:31, fetters are ascribed 
to him ; and this coincides with 
the Greek fable of the giant 
Orion, bound in the heavens. 

ORNAN, see Araunah. 

OSPREY, a kind of eagle, 
whose flesh is forbidden. Lev. 
11:13. It is thought to be the 
black eagle ; perhaps the nisser 
tookoor described by Bruce. See 
Birds. 

OSSIFRAGE, an unclean 
bird, Lev. 11:13. Deut. 14:12 5 
but as to its identity interpreters 
are not agreed. Some read vul- 
ture, others the black eagle, others 
the falcon. The Hebrew name 
peres denotes to crush, to break ; 
and this name agrees with our 
version, which implies " the 
bone-breaker ;" a name given to 
a kind of eagle, from its habit 
of breaking the bones of its 
prey, after it has eaten the flesh. 
See Birds. 

OSTRICH. The ostrich is 
considered as the largest of 
birds, and the connecting link 
between quadrupeds and fowls. 
The height of the ostrich is usu- 
ally seven feet, from the head 
to the ground ; but from the 
back it is only four ; so that the 
head and the neck are three 
feet long. From the head to the 
end of the tail, when the neck 
is stretched in a right line, it is 
seven feet long. One of the 
wings, with the feathers stretched 
out, is three feet in length. The 



OST 



[ 233 ] 



OST 



plumage is generally white and 
mack, though some of them are 
said to be gray. There are no 
feathers on the sides of the thighs, 
nor under the wings. The lower 
half of the neck is covered with 
smaller feathers than those on the 
belly and back, and the head and 
upper part of the neck are cov- 
ered with hair : at the end of 
each wing, there is a kind of 
spur, resembling the quill of a 
porcupine, about an inch long ; 
and about a foot from the end of 
the wing is another of the same de- 
scription, but something smaller. 

The ostrich has not, like most 
other birds, feathers of various 
kinds 5 they are all bearded with 
detached hairs or filaments, with- 
out consistence and reciprocal 
adherence. The consequence is, 
that they cannot oppose to the 
air a suitable resistance, and 
therefore are of no utility in fly- 
ing, or in directing the flight. 
Besides the peculiar structure of 
her wings, the ostrich is rendered 
incapable of flight by her enor- 
mous size, weighing seventy -five 
or eighty pounds, a weight which 
would require an immense power 
of wing to elevate into the air. 

But notwithstanding this defi- 
ciency, the Creator has amply 
provided for its safety, by 
endowing it with extraordinary 
swiftness, and a surprising appa- 
ratus for escaping from its ene- 
my. They, " when they raise 
themselves up for flight, laugh at 
the horse and his rider." Job 
39:18. They afford him an op- 
portunity only of admiring at a 
distance the extraordinary agil- 
ity, and the stateliness, likewise, 
of their motions, the richness of 
their plumage, and the great pro- 
priety there was in ascribing 
to them an expanded quivering 
wing. Nothing, certainly, can 
be more entertaining than such a 
20* 



sight j the wings, by their rapid 
but unwearied vibrations, equal- 
ly serving them for sails and 
oars ; while their feet, also as- 
sisting in conveying them out of 
sight, are no less insensible of 
fatigue. The surprising swiftness 
of the ostrich is expressly men- 
tioned by Xenophon. Speaking 
of the desert of Arabia, he states 
that the ostrich is frequently seen 
there j that none could take them, 
the horsemen who pursue them 
soon giving it over; for they 
escaped far away, making use 
both of their feet to run, and of 
their wings, when expanded, as 
a sail to waft them along. This 
representation is confirmed by 
the writer of a voyage to Sene- 
gal, who says, " She sets off at 
a hard gallop 3 but, after being 
excited a little, she expands her 
wings as if to catch the wind, 
and abandons herself to a speed 
so great, that she seems not to 
touch the ground." " I am per- 
suaded," continues that writer, 
" she would leave far behind the 
swiftest English courser." 

The ostrich is a native only of 
the torrid regions of Africa and 
Arabia, and has furnished the 
sacred writers with some of their 
most beautiful imagery. 

The ostrich was aptly called 
by the ancients a lover of the 
deserts. Shy and timorous in 
no common degree, she retires 
from the cultivated field, where 
she is disturbed by the Arabian 
shepherds and husbandmen, into 
the deepest recesses of the Sa- 
hara. In those dreary wastes, 
she is reduced to subsist on a 
few tufts of coarse grass, which 
here and there languish on their 
surface, or a few other solitary 
plants equally destitute of nour- 
ishment, and, in the psalmist's 
phrase, even " withered before 
they are grown up." To this 



OST 



[ 234 J 



OWL 



dry and parched food may, per- 
haps, be added, the great variety 
of land snails which occasional- 
ly cover the leaves and stalks of 
these herbs, and which may af- 
ford her some refreshment. Nor 
is it improbable, that she some- 
times regales herself on lizards 
and serpents, together with in- 
sects and reptiles of various 
kinds. Still, however, consider- 
ing the voracity and size of this 
camel bird, (as it is called in the 
East,) it is wonderful how the 
little ones should be nourished 
and brought up, and especially 
how those of fuller growth, and 
much better qualified to look out 
for themselves, are able to subsist. 
The ostrich is proverbial for 
her stupidity and want of parental 
affection. It is related, that when 
hard pushed by hunters, as is 
sometimes the case, she slops 
and hides her head ; seeming to 
think that thus her whole body 
is also concealed. Her want of 
natural affection appears in the 
readiness with which she aban- 
dons her eggs or young ones 
On this point, Dr. Shaw remarks, 
" On the least noise or trivial oc- 
casion, she forsakes her eggs, or 
her young ones, to which, per- 
haps, she never returns 5 or if 
she does, it may be too late either 
to restore life to the one, or to 
preserve the lives of the others. 
Agreeably to this account, the 
Arabs meet sometimes with 
whole nests of these eggs undis- 
turbed 5 some of them are sweet 
and good, others are addle and 
corrupted ; others, again, have 
their young ones of different 
growth, according to the time, it 
may be presumed, they may 
have been forsaken of the dam. 
They often meet with a few of 
the little ones no bigger than 
well-grown pullets, half starved, 
straggling and moaning about, 



like so many distressed orphans, 
for their mother. In this man- 
ner, the ostrich may be said to 
be hardened against her young 
ones, as though they were not 
hers ; her labor, in hatching and 
attending them so far, being 
vain, without fear, or the least 
concern of what becomes of 
them afterwards. This want of 
affection is also recorded, Lam. 
4:3, 'The daughter of my peo 
pie is become cruel, like the 
ostriches in the wilderness ;' 
that is, by apparently deserting 
their own children, and receiving 
others in return." 

When the ostrich is provoked, 
she sometimes makes a fierce, 
angry and hissing noise, with 
her throat inflated, and her mouth 
open ; when she meets with a 
timorous adversary that opposes 
but a faint resistance to her as- 
sault, she chuckles or cackles 
like a hen, seeming to rejoice in 
the prospect of an easy conquest. 
But in the silent hours of night, 
she assumes a quite different 
tone, and makes a very doleful 
and hideous noise, which some- 
times resembles the roaring of a 
lion ; at other times that of the 
bull and the ox. She frequently 
groans, as if she were in the 
greatest agonies 5 an action to 
which the prophet beautifully al- 
ludes : " I will make a mourn- 
ing like the ostrich," Mic. 1:8, 
where our English version im- 
properly reads oicls. 

OVEN, see under Bread. 

OWL, a well-known species 
of birds, pronounced by Moses 
to be unclean, Lev. 11:16,17, 
and which are never eaten by 
any people. It is, however, very 
uncertain whether the Hebrew 
words translated owl actually 
mean this bird. Some of them 
certainly do not. See under 
Ostrich, and Birds. 



PAL 



[ 235 ] 



PAL 



P. 



PADAN ARAM, the plains of 
Aram, or Syria. See Mesopo- 
tamia, and Syria. 

PALESTINE, taken in a lim- 
ited sense, denotes the country 
of the Philistines, which was 
that part of the Land of Prom- 
ise extending along- the Mediter- 
ranean sea, from Gaza south to 
Lydda north. Palestine, taken 
in a more general sense, signifies 
the whole country of Canaan, as 
well beyond, as on this side, Jor- 
dan ; though frequently it is re- 
strained to the country on this 
side that river ; so that in later 
times the words Judeaand Pales- 
tine were synonymous. We find 
also the name of Syria-Palestina 
given to the Land of Promise, 
and even sometimes this prov- 
ince is comprehended in Ccele- 
Syria, or the Lower Syria. Hero- 
dotus is the most ancient writer 
known who speaks of Syria-Pal- 
estina. He places it between 
Phoenicia and Egypt. See Ca- 
naan. 

PALM, a measure of a hand's, 
or four fingers' breadth, or 3.648 
inches. 

PALMER- WORM is put in 
Joel 1:4, for a Hebrew word 
which signifies a species of locust. 
In the same verse the caterpillar 
and canker-worm are also put 
for different species of locusts. 

PALM-TREE. This tree is 
called in Hebrew t&m&r, from 
its straight, upright growth, for 
which it seems more remarkable 
than any other tree : it some- 
times rises to the height of a hun- 
dred feet. 

The palm is one of the most 
beautiful trees of the vegetable 
kingdom. The stalks are gen- 
erally full of rugged knots, which 



are the vestiges of the decayed 
leaves ; for the trunk is not solid 
like other trees, but its centre is 
filled with pith, round which is a 
tough bark, full of strong fibres 
when young, which, as the tree 

frows old,Tiardens and becomes 
gneous. To this bark the leaves 
are closely joined, which in the 
centre rise erect, but after they 
are advanced above the vagina 
that surrounds them, they ex- 
pand very wide on every side 
the stem, and, as the older leaves 
decay, the stalk advances in 
height. The leaves, when the 
tree has grown to a size for bear- 
ing fruit, are six or eight feet 
long; are very broad when 
spread out, and are used for 
covering the tops of houses, and 
similar purposes. 

The fruit, which is called date, 
grows below the leaves in clus- 
ters j and is of a sweet and 
agreeable taste. The diligent 
natives, says Mr. Gibbon, cele- 
brate, either in verse or prose, 
the 360 uses to which the trunk, 
the branches, the leaves and the 
fruit of the palm are skilfully 
applied. The extensive impor- 
tance of the date-tree, is one of 
the most curious subjects to which 
a traveller can direct his atten- 
tion. A considerable part of the 
inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia 
and Persia, subsist almost entirely 
on its fruit. They boast also of its 
medicinal virtues. Their camels 
feed upon the date stone. From 
the leaves they make couches, 
baskets, bags, mats and brushes ; 
from the branches, cages for 
their poultry, and fences for their 
gardens ; from the fibres of the 
boughs, thread, ropes and rig- 
ging 5 from the sap is prepared a 



PAR 



[ 236 ] 



PAR 



spirituous liquor} and the body 
of the tree furnishes fuel : it is 
even said, that from one variety 
of the palm-tree, the phoenix fari- 
nifera, meal has been extracted, 
which is found among the fibres 
of the trunk, and has been used 
for food. 

Several parts of the Holy 
Land, no less than of Idumaea, 
that lay contiguous to it, are de- 
scribed by the ancients to have 
abounded with date-trees. Ju- 
dea, particularly, is typified, in 
several coins of Vespasian, by 
a disconsolate woman sitting - un- 
der a palm-tree. In Deut. 34:3, 
Jericho is called the " city of 
palm-trees ;" and several of these 
trees are still found there ; but in 
general they are at present rare 
in Palestine. 

PAMPHYLIA, a province of 
Asia Minor, having Cilicia east, 
Lycia west. Pisidia north, and 
the Mediterranean south. It is 
opposite to Cyprus, and the sea 
between the coast and the island 
is called the sea of Pamphylia. 
The chief city of Pamphylia 
was Perga, where Paul and Bar- 
nabas preached. Acts 13:13. 
14:24. 

PANNAG, in Ezek. 27:17,is 
probably some kind of artificial 
and costlv pastry or cakes. 

PAPER, PAPYRUS, see 
Book. 

PAPHOS, a maritime city on 
the western extremity of the isle 
of Cyprus. It had a tolerable 
harbor, and was the station of a 
Roman proconsul. About sixty 
stadia or furlongs from the city 
was the celebrated temple of 
Venus, who was hence often 
called the Paphian goddess. 
Acts 13:6,13. 

PARABLE, derived from a 
Greek word which signifies to 
compare things together, to form 
a parallel or similitude of them 



with other things. What we 
call the Proverbs of Solomon, 
which are moral maxims and 
sentences, the Greeks call the 
Parables of Solomon. In like 
manner, when Job answers his 
friends, it is said, he began to 
take up his parable. Job 27:1. 
29:1. The parabolical, enig- 
matical, figurative and senten- 
tious way of speaking, was the 
language of the eastern sages 
and learned men ; and nothing 
was more insupportable than to 
hear a fool utter parables. Prov. 
26:7. 

The prophets employed para- 
bles, the more strongly to im- 
press prince and people with their 
threatenings or their promises. 
Nathan reproved David under 
the parable of a rich man who 
had taken away and killed the 
lamb of a poor man. 2 Sam. c. 
12. Our Saviour most frequent- 
ly addressed the people in par- 
ables ; thereby verifying the 
prophecy of Isaiah, 6:9, that 
the people should see without 
knowing, and hear without un- 
derstanding, in the midst of in- 
structions. Jerome observes, 
that this manner of instructing 
and speaking by similitudes and 
parables, was common in Syria, 
and especially in Palestine. It 
is certain that the ancient sages 
employed this style almost to 
affectation. 

PARADISE. This word in 
Hebrew signifies a garden or 
forest of trees, a park, in which 
sense it is used, Neh. 2:8. 
Eccles. 2:5. Cant. 4:13. 

The Septuagint use the word 
paradisus when they speak of the 
garden of Eden, in which the Lord 
placed Adam and Eve. This fa 
mous garden is indeed common- 
ly known by the name of " the 
terrestrial paradise," and there 
is hardly any part of the world 



PAR 



[ 237 ] 



PAS 



in which it has not been sought. 
See Eden. 

In the New Testament, para- 
dise is put lor a place of delight, 
where the souls of the blessed 
enjoy happiness. Thus our Sa- 
viour tells the penitent thief on 
the cross, Luke 23:43, "To- 
day shalt thou be with me in par- 
adise ;" i. e. in the state of the 
blessed. Paul, speaking of him- 
self in the third person, says, 2 
Cor. 12:4, " I knew a man that 
was caught up into paradise, and 
heard unspeakable words, which 
it is not lawful for a man to 
utter." 

PARAN, or El Paran, a 
large tract of desert country ly- 
ing south of Palestine and west 
of the Ghor or valley which runs 
from the Dead sea to the gulf of 
Akaba. It was in and near this 
desert region that the Israelites 
wandered thirty-eight years. 
See Exodus. 

PARCHMENT, see Book. 

PARTHIA is supposed to 
have been originally a province 
of Media, on its eastern side, 
which was raised into a distinct 
kingdom by Arsaces, B. C. 250. 
It soon extended itself over a 
great part of the ancient Persian 
empire, and is frequently put for 
that empire in Scypture, and 
other ancient writings. Parthia 
maintained itself against all 
aggressors for nearly 500 years ; 
but in A. D. 226, one of the 
descendants of the ancient Per- 
sian kings united it to his empire, 
and Persia resumed its former 
name and dynasty. 

TheParthians were celebrated, 
especially by the poets, for their 
mode of fighting, which consist- 
ed in discharging their arrows 
while they fled. They would 
seem to have borne no very dis- 
tant resemblance to the modern 



Cossacks. It is said the Par- 
thians were either refugees or 
exiles from the Scythian nations. 
Jews from among them were 
present at Jerusalem at the Pen- 
tecost. Acts 2:9. 

PARTRIDGE. The Hebrew 
name of this bird is kore, the 
caller. Forskal mentions a par- 
tridge whose name, in Arabic, is 
kurr ; and Latham says, that 
in the province of Andalusia, in 
Spain, its name is churr, both 
taken, no doubt, from the He- 
brew. The German hunters 
also say, of the partridge, " It 
calls." As this bird is so well 
known in every part of the world, 
a particular description is un- 
necessary. 

PASSOVER, (Fascha, a pass- 
ing over,) a name given to the 
festival established in commem- 
oration of the coming forth out of 
Egypt, Ex. c. 12, because, the 
night before their departure, the 
destroying angel, who slew the 
first-born of the Egyptians, pass- 
ed over the houses of the He- 
brews without entering them, 
they being marked with the blood 
of the lamb, which, for this rea- 
son, was called the paschal lamb. 

The month of the exodus from 
Egypt, (called Abib by Moses, 
afterwards called Nisan,) was or- 
dained to be thereafter the first 
month of the sacred or ecclesi- 
astical year ; and the fourteenth 
day of this month, between the 
two evenings, (see Evening,) 
they were to kill the paschal 
lamb, and to abstain from leav- 
ened bread. The day follow- 
ing, being the fifteenth, reckoned 
from six o'clock of the preceding 
evening, was the grand feast of 
the passover, which continued 
seven days ; but only the first 
and the seventh day were pe- 
culiarly solemn. The slain lamb 



PAT 



[ 238 ] 



P AU 



ought to be without defect, a 
male, and of that year. If no 
lamb could be found, they might 
take a kid. They killed a lamb 
or a kid in each family ; and if 
the number of the family were 
not sufficient to eat the lamb, 
they might associate two families 
together. The ceremonies which 
were to accompany the passo- 
ver are fully described in Ex. 
c. 12. 

The modern Jews also con- 
tinue to observe the passover. 
With those who live in Palestine 
the feast continues a week, but 
the Jews out of Palestine extend 
it to eight days, according to an 
ancient custom, by which the 
sanhedrim sent two men to ob- 
serve the first appearance of the 
new moon, who immediately 
gave notice of it to the chief of 
the council. For fear of error, 
they kept two days of the festival. 

As to the Christian passover, 
the Lord's supper, it was insti- 
tuted by Christ, when, at the last 
passover supper he ate with his 
apostles,he gave them a symbol of 
his body to eat, and a symbol of his 
blood to drink, under the form 
of bread and wine j prefiguring 
that he should give up his body 
to the Jews and to death. The 
paschal lamb which the Jews 
killed, tore to pieces, and ate, 
and whose blood preserved them 
from the destroying angel, was 
a type and figure of our Saviour's 
death and passion, and of his 
blood shed for the salvation of 
the world. 

PATARA, a maritime city of 
Lycia, celebrated for an oracle 
of Apollo, who was supposed to 
reside here during the six winter 
months, and the rest of the year at 
Delos, and who was hence called 
Patareus. Paul, in passing from 
Philippi to Jerusalem, found here 



a ship for Phoenicia, in which he 
embarked. Acts 21 : 1. 

PATHROS, Jer. 44:1,15. 
Ezek. 29:14. 30:14, one of the 
three ancient divisions of Egypt, 
viz. Upper Egypt, which Ezekiel 
speaks of as distinct from Egypt, 
and the original abode of the 
Egyptians ; as indeed Ethiopia 
and Upper Egypt really were. 
See Egypt. 

PATMOS, an island of the 
JEgean sea, to which the apostle 
and evangelist John was ban- 
ished, A. D. 94. Rev. 1:9. In 
this island he is said to have had 
his revelation, recorded in the 
Apocalypse. Patmos lies be- 
tween the island of Icaria and 
the promontory of Miletus, or 
between Samos and Naxos, and 
is now called Patimo, or Patmo- 
sa. Its circuit may be five-and- 
twenty or thirty miles. It has 
also a city called Patmos, with a 
harbor, and some monasteries of 
Greek monks, who show a cave, 
now a chapel, where they pre- 
tend that John wrote his reve- 
lation. 

PAUL, the distinguished apos- 
tle of the Gentiles, who was also 
called Saul. The apostle Paul 
was born of Jewish parents at 
Tarsus in Cilicia, and inherited 
the privileges of a Roman citi- 
zen. He was originally by trade 
a tent-maker, but was educated 
at Jerusalem, in the school of Ga- 
maliel 5 and yielding himself to 
the strictest discipline of the sect 
of the Pharisees, he became a 
fierce defender of the Jewish re- 
ligion, and a bitter adversary of 
the Christians. After his mirac- 
ulous conversion, he devoted all 
the powers of his ardent and en- 
ergetic mind to the defence and 
propagation of the gospel of 
Christ, more particularly among 
the Gentiles. His views of the 



PAU 



[239] 



PAU 



pure and lofty spirit of Chris- 
tianity, in its worship and in its 
practical influence, appear to 
have been peculiarly deep and 
fervent ; and the opposition which 
he was thus led to make to the 
rites and ceremonies of the Jew- 
ish worship, exposed him to the 
hatred and malice of his country- 
men. On their accusation, he 
was put in confinement by the 
Roman officers, and after being- 
detained for two years or more at 
Cesarea, he was sent to Rome 
for trial, having himself appealed 
to the emperor. There is less 
certainty in respect to the ac- 
counts which are given of Paul 
afterwards, by the early eccle- 
siastical writers. They repre- 
sent him as having been set at 
liberty ; and affirm that after 
new efforts in the cause of Chris- 
tianity, he was again imprisoned, 
and at last put to death by order 
of Nero. But all this, and the 
stories of his subsequent travels 
in Italy, Spain, and even Britain, 
rest on uncertain traditions. 
Still, it was a very generally re- 
ceived opinion, in the earlier cen- 
turies, that the apostle was ac- 
quitted and discharged from his 
imprisonment at the end of two 
years ; and that he afterwards 
returned to Rome, where he was 
again imprisoned, and put to 
death. 

Paul appears to have possessed 
all the learning which was then 
current among the Jews, and 
also to have been acquainted 
with Greek literature ; though 
probably a learned Greek edu- 
cation cannot with propriety be 
ascribed to him. But the most 
striking trait in his character is, 
that he seems to have surpassed 
most, or perhaps all, of the other 
apostles, in his enlarged views of 
the spiritual nature of the religion 



of Christ, and of its purifying and 
ennobling influence upon the 
heart and character of those who 
sincerely profess it. Most of 
the other apostles and teachers 
appear to have clung to Juda- 
ism, to the rites, and ceremonies, 
and dogmas of the religion in 
which they had been educated, 
and to have regarded Christian- 
ity as intended to be engrafted 
upon the ancient stock, which 
was yet to remain as the trunk to 
support the new branches. Paul 
seems to have been among the 
first to rise above this narrow 
view, and to regard Christianity 
in its true light, as a universal 
religion. While others were for 
converting all those who em- 
braced the new religion into 
Jews, by imposing on them the 
yoke of Jewish observances, it 
was Paul's endeavor to break 
down the middle wall of sepa- 
ration between Jews and Gen- 
tiles, and show them that they 
were all " one in Christ." To 
this end all his labors tended > 
and, ardent in the pursuit of this 
great object, he did not hesitate 
to censure the time-serving Peter, 
and to expose his own life to the 
prejudices of his countrymen. 
Indeed, his five years' imprison- 
ment at Jerusalem, Cesarea and 
Rome arose chiefly from this 
cause. 

The following chronological 
table of the principal events in 
Paul's life may be of use in di- 
recting and assisting inquiries 
into this most interesting portion 
of history. The different chro- 
nologies of Hug, De Wette and 
Lardner are here presented side 
by side ; and thus the table, while 
it shows the general agreement 
of ehronologers, shows also that 
it is impossible to arrive at entire. 
certainty in this respect. 



PAU 



Paul's conversion, Acts 
c. 9. (21st year of Ti- 
berius.) A. D. 

He goes into Arabia, (see 
Arabia,) and returns 
to Damascus, Gal. 1 : 
17 ; at the end of three 
years in all, he escapes 
from Damascus and 
goes to Jerusalem. 

Acts 9 : 23, «fcc 

From Jerusalem Paul 
goes to Cilicia and Sy- 
ria. Ants 9 : 30. Gal. 1 : 
21. From Antioch he 
is sent with Barnabas 
to Jerusalem to carry 

alms. Acts 11: 30 

The first missionary jour- 
ney of Paul and Bar- 
nabas from Antioch, 
continued about two 
years, Acts c. 13, 14, 

commencing 

After spending several 
years in Antioch, Acts 
14 : 28, Paul and Bar 
nabas are sent a sec 
ond time to Jerusalem, 
to consult the apostles 
respecting circumcis- 
ion, &c. Acts 15:2. 
The Jews expelled from 
Rome A. D. 52—54; 
Paul, on his second 
missionary journey, 
Acts 15 : 40, after 
passing through Asia 
Minor to Europe, finds 
Aquila and Priscilla 
at Corinth. Acts 18: 

2 

Paul remains eighteen 
months in Corinth. 
Acts 18 : 11. After 
being brought before 
Gallio, he departs for 
Jerusalem the fourth 
time, and then goes to 
Antioch. Acts 18 : 22. 
The apostle winters at 
Nicopolis, (Tit. 3: 12, 
Hug,) and then goes 
to Ephesus. Acts 19 : 1, 
After a residence of two 
years or more at Ephe- 



[ 240 J 



PAU 



sus, Paul departs for 
Macedonia. Acts 20 : 
1 

After wintering in Acha- 
ia, Paul goes the fifth 
time to Jerusalem, 
where he is imprison- 
ed. Acts c. 20,21 

The apostle remains two 
years in prison at Cae- 
sarea, and is then sent 
to Rome, where he ar- 
rives in the spring, af- 
ter wintering in Mal- 
ta. Acts 24: 27. c. 25. 
—28 

The history in Acts con- 
cludes, and Paul is 
supposed to have been 
set at liberty 

Probable martyrdom of 
Paul and Peter. ... 



s a 



65 



56 



58 



61 



65 



Epistles of Paul. — There are 
fourteen Epistles in the New Tes- 
tament usually ascribed to Paul, 
beginning- with that to the Ro- 
mans and ending with that to the 
Hebrews. Of these the first thir- 
teen have never been contested ; 
as to the latter, many good men 
have doubted whether Paul was 
the author ; although the current 
of criticism seems now to be 
turning in favor of this opinion. 
These epistles are among the 
most important of the primitive 
documents of the Christian re- 
ligion, even apart from their in- 
spired character; and although 
they were all evidently written 
without any special premedita- 
tion, and have reference mostly 
to transient circumstances and 
temporary relations ; yet they 
every where bear the stamp of 
the great and original mind of 
the apostle, as purified, elevated 
and sustained by the influences 
of the Holy Spirit. 

The order in which these epis- 
; ties stand in our Bible seems to 



PEA 



[ 241 ] 



PEK 



have arisen from a sort of as- I 
sumed or supposed rank among' 
the various churches to which 
they were addressed. 

Epistles. Places. 

1 Thessalonians, Corinth, 

2 Thessalonians, do — 



The following is Lardner's ar- 
rangement of the epistles of Paul, 
with the places where they were 
written, and the dates : — 

A.D. 



Galatians, Corinth or Ephesus, 



52 

end of 52 
or beginning of 53 
1 Corinthians, Ephesus, .beginning of 56 

1 Timothy, Macedonia, 56 

Titus, do. or near it, near end of 56 

2 Corinthians, do about Oct. 57 

Romans,...^ Corinth, " Feb. 58 

Ephesians,..' Rome, " April, 61 

2 Timothy, do " May, 61 

Philippians, do before end of 62 

Colossians, do " 62 

Philemon, do " 62 

Hebrews, do spring, 63 



The arrangement of Hug is 
somewhat different, as may be 
seen in the octavo edition of 
Calmet. 

PAVEMENT, see Gabba- 

THA. 

PEACOCKS appear not to 
have been known in Palestine, 
until imported in the navy of 
Solomon from Tarshish, as it 
would appear, i. e. from Spain. 
1 K. 10:22. 2Chr. 9:21. 

PEARL. The Arabians, 
Persians and Turks use the word 
merovarid to signify pearls, from 
which the word margarites, or 
margarita, used by the Greeks 
and Latins, seems to be derived. 
The finest pearls are fished up in 
the Persian gulf, and on the 
coast of Bahrein, so called from 
the city of that name, on the bor- 
ders of Arabia ; and Idumea and 
Palestine being not far distant, 
it is not to be wondered at that 
pearls were well known to Job, 
and the Hebrews. They are 
also found in many other places. 
It is an ancient error, that pearls 
are formed of the dew, and that 
they are soft in the sea. They 
are always a stony concretion, 
21 



found in a species of oyster; 
sometimes in the common oyster, 
though these are not genuine. 
Pearls are certainly very differ- 
ent things from precious stones ; 
yet the Greek term margarites 
seems to be used, in a more gen- 
eral sense, for jewels, or splendid 
gems. 

Our Saviour forbids his apostles 
to cast their pearls before swine, 
Matt. 7:6; i. e. Expose not the 
sacred truths and mysteries of 
religion to the raillery of profane 
libertines and hardened atheists ; 
offer them not to those who will 
contemptuously reject them. 

PEKAH, son of Remaliah, 
and general of the army of Pe- 
kahiah, king of Israel. He con- 
spired against his master, 2 K. 
15 : 25 ; attacked him in the tow- 
er of his royal palace of Sama- 
ria, and having slain him, he 
reigned in his place twenty years. 
Under the reign of this wicked 
king, Tiglath-pileser, king of As- 
syria, came into the country, 
took several cities, and all the 
country of Naphtali, and carried 
the inhabitants into Assyria. 
Hoshea, son of Elah, at length 



PEL 



[ 242 ] 



PEN 



conspired against Pekah, slew 
him, and reigned in his stead. 
2 K. c. 15. 

PEKAHIAH, son and success- 
or of Menahem, king of Israel, 
was a wicked prince, and reigned 
but two years. Pekah, son of 
Remaliah, conspired against him, 
and killed him in his own palace. 
2K. 15:22,23. 

PELEG, son of Eber. His 
father named him Peleg, {divis- 
ion,) because in his time the earth 
wasdivided. Gen. 10:25.11:16. 
PELETHTTES are always 
mentioned together with the Che- 
rethites, as constituting the king's 
body guard. The word signihes 
runners, and they seem to have 
been the royal messengers ; just 
as the Cherethites (from a He- 
brew word signifying to cut off) 
were the king's executioners. 
See Cherethites. 

PELICAN. The Hebrew name 
of this curious bird, the vomiter, 
is evidently taken from its man- 
ner of discharging the contents of 
its bag or pouch, for the purpose 
of satisfying its own hunger or 
that of its young. The pelican is 
a bird much larger than the swan, 
and something resembling it in 
shape and color. The principal 
difference, and that which distin- 
guishes it from all other birds, is its 
enormous bill and extraordinary 
pouch. From the point of the bill 
to the opening of the mouth, there 
is a length of fifteen inches ; and 
under the chap is a bag reaching 
the entire length of the bill to the 
neck, and capable, it is said, of 
holding fifteen quarts of water. 
When this pouch is empty, it is not 
seen ; but when filled, its great 
bulk and singular appearance 
may easily be conceived. The 
pelican has strong wings, furnish- 
ed with thick plumage of an ash 
color, as are the rest of the feathers 
over the whole body. Its eyes are 



very small when compared to the 
size of its head ; there is a sadness 
in its countenance, and its whole 
air is melancholy : it is as dull and 
reluctant in its motions as the fla- 
mingo is sprightly and active. It 
is slow of flight j and when it 
rises to fly, does so with great 
difficulty and labor. Nothing, as 
it would seem, but the spur of 
necessity could make these birds 
change their situation, or induce 
them to ascend into the air ; but 
they must either starve or fly. 
When they have raised them- 
selves about thirty or forty feet 
above the surface of the sea, 
they turn their head with their eye 
downwards, and continue to fly in 
that posture. As soon as they per- 
ceive a fish sufficiently near the 
surface, they dart down upon it 
with the swiftness of an arrow, 
seize it with unerring certainty, 
and store it up in their pouch. 
They then rise again, though not 
without great labor, and continue 
hovering and fishing, with their 
head on one side as before. In 
feeding its young, the pelican 
squeezes the food deposited in its 
bag, into their mouths, by strongly 
compressing it upon its breast 
with the bill ; an action, which 
might well give occasion to the 
received tradition and report that 
the pelican, in feeding her young, 
pierced her own breast, and nour- 
ished them with her blood. See 
Birds. 

PENNY is usually put in the 
English translation for the Greek 
drachma and the Roman denari- 
us, both of which were equal in 
value to seven-pence three far- 
things sterling, or about fourteen 
cents. As this was a single coin, 
perhaps we should do well, in 
translating, to express it by a coin 
of our own, as near to it in value 
as possible; say, for instance, a 
nine-pence, or a shilling. Read in 



PEN 



[ 243 ] 



PER 



this way the passages — (t When 
the Lord of the vineyard had 
agreed with the laborers for nine- 
pence (or a shilling) a day 3" — 
"Show me the tribute money; and 
they showed him a nine-pence (or 
shilling) 5"—" Two hundred shil- 
lings' worth of bread is not 
enough for this multitude ;" the 
good Samaritan took out two shil- 
lings, and gave them to the keep- 
er of the Khan. Something like 
this is absolutely necessary in 
Rev. 6:6, "A small measure (or 
pint) of wheat for a shilling." As 
the passage now stands it indicates 
great plenty to an English reader ; 
whereas, it really is descriptive of 
a most distressing scarcity. 

PENTATEUCH, (the five 
books,) the books of Moses; that is, 
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Num- 
bers, Deuteronomy. See their 
proper articles, and also Moses. 

PENTECOST, (the fiftieth, 
day being understood,) a feast 
celebrated the fiftieth day after the 
sixteenth of Nisan, which was 
the second day of the feast of the 
passover. Lev. 23:15,16. The 
Hebrews call it the feast of 
weeks, Exod. 34:22, because it 
was kept seven weeks after the 
passover. They then offered the 
first-fruits of their wheat harvest, 
which at that time was complet- 
ed. Deut. 16:9,10. These first- 
fruits consisted in two loaves of 
unleavened bread, of two assa- 
rons, or five pints of meal each. 
Lev. 23:17. 

The Feast of Pentecost was 
instituted, first, to oblige the Is- 
raelites to repair to the temple of 
the Lord, and there to acknowl- 
edge his dominion over their 
country, and their labors, by of- 
fering to him the first-fruits of all 
their harvests. Secondly, to com- 
memorate, and to render thanks 
to God for the law given from 
mount Sinai, on the fiftieth day 



after their coming out of Egypt. 
It was on the day of Pentecost, 
that the Holy Spirit was first pour- 
ed out upon the apostles and the 
Christian church. Acts 2:1 — 3. 
PERFUMES. The use of 
perfumes was common among 
the Hebrews and the orientals 
generally, before it was known to 
the Greeks and Romans. Moses 
also speaks of the art of the per- 
fumer, in Egypt, and gives the 
composition of two perfumes, of 
which one was to be offered to 
the Lord on the golden altar, Ex. 
30:34, &c. and the other to be 
used for anointing the high-priest 
and his sons, the tabernacle, and 
the vessels of divine service. 
Exod. 30:23, &c. The He- 
brews had also perfumes for em- 
balming their dead. The com- 
position is not exactly known, 
but they used myrrh, aloes and 
other strong and astringent drugs, 
proper to prevent infection and 
corruption. See Embalming. 

PERGA, a city of Pamphylia. 
Acts 13:13,14. This is not a 
maritime city, but situated on the 
river Cestus, at some distance 
from its mouth. It was one of 
the most considerable cities in 
Pamphylia ; and when that prov- 
ince was divided into two parts, 
this city became the metropolis 
of one part, and Side of the other. 
On a neighboring mountain v> %s 
a splendid temple of Diana, 
which gave celebrity to the 
city. 

PERGAMOS, now Bergamo, 
a city of Mysia, in Asia Minor, 
and the residence of the Attalian 
princes. There was here collect- 
ed by the kings of this race a no- 
ble library of 200,000 volumes, 
which was afterwards transported 
to Egypt by Cleopatra, and add- 
ed to the library at Alexandria. 
Hence the Latin name perga- 
mentum for parchment. Perga- 



PER 



[ 244 ] 



PES 



mos was situated near the river 
Caicus, and was the birth-place 
of Galen. Rev. 1:11. 2:12. 

PERIZZITES, ancient in- 
habitants of Palestine, who had 
mingled with the Canaanites, or 
were themselves descendants of 
Canaan. They appear to have 
had no fixed habitations, and 
lived sometimes in one country 
and sometimes in another. There 
were some of them on each side 
of the river Jordan, in the moun- 
tains, and in the plains. In sev- 
eral places of Scripture, the 
Canaanites and Perizzites are 
mentioned as the chief people of 
the country ; as in the time of 
Abraham and Lot. Gen. 13:7. 
See Canaanites. 

PERSIA, (in Heb. Phars, 
Ezek. 27:10,) a vast region in 
Asia, the south-western province 
of which appears to have been 
the ancient Persia, and is still 
called Pharsistan, or Pars. 
The Persians, who became so 
famous after Cyrus, the founder 
of their more extended mon- 
archy, were anciently called 
Elamites ; and later, in the time 
of the Roman emperors, Parthi- 
ans. See Parthia. 

The early history of the Per- 
sians, like that of most of the 
oriental nations, is involved in 
doubt and perplexity. We have 
already suggested their descent 
fromShem, through his son Elam, 
after whom they were originally 
named. It is probable that they 
enjoyed their independence for 
several ages, with a monarchical 
succession of their own ; until 
they were subdued by the Assyr- 
ians, and their country attached 
as a province to that empire. 
From this period, both sacred 
and profane writers distinguish 
the kingdom of the Medes from 
that of the Persians. It is not 
improbable that, during this pe- 



riod, petty revolutions might have 
occasioned temporary disjunc- 
tions of Persia from Assyria, and 
that the Persian king was quick- 
ly again made sensible of his 
true allegiance. When Media 
became independent, under De- 
joces and then Phraortes, Persia 
became also subject to its sway, 
as a tributary kingdom. Media 
having vanquished her great 
rival, Assyria, enjoyed a long 
interval of peace, during the 
reign of Astyages, son of Cyax- 
ares. But his successor, Cyaxa- 
res the Second, united with the 
Persians against the Babyloni- 
ans, and gave the command of 
the combined armies to Cyrus, 
who took the city of Babylon, 
killed Belshazzar, and terminated 
that kingdom, 538 B. C. 

Cyrus succeeded to the thrones 
of Media and Persia, and com- 
pleted the union between those 
countries. He extended his do- 
minion beyond the greatest limits 
of that of the kings of Assyria. 
It may be worthy of remark, 
that, previous to this union, 
Daniel speaks of the law of the 
Medes and Persians as being the 
same. The union was effected 
B. C. 536. The principal events, 
relating to Scripture, which oc- 
curred during the reign of Cyrus, 
were the restoration of the Jews, 
the rebuilding the city and tem- 
ple, and the capture of Baby- 
lon. 

PERSIS, a Roman lady, 
whom Paul salutes, Rom. 16 : 12, 
and calls his beloved sister. 

PESTILENCE, or Plague, 
in the Hebrew tongue, as in 
most others, expresses all sorts 
of distempers and calamities. 
The Hebrew word which prop- 
erly signifies the plague is ex- 
tended to all epidemical and 
contagious diseases. The proph- 
ets generally connect together 



PET 



[ 245 ] 



PHA 



the sword, the pestilence and the 
famine, as three evils which 
usually accompany each other. 

PETER. This name in Greek 
signifies a rock, as does also the 
name Cephas in Syriac. Peter 
was one of the twelve apostles, 
and was formerly called Simon. 
He was of Bethsaida, and was 
the son of Jonas, a fisherman, 
which occupation he also fol- 
lowed. When first introduced 
to Jesus by his brother Andrew, 
he received from him the name 
of Peter, John 1:43 ; probably 
in reference to the boldness and 
firmness of his character, and his 
activity in promoting his Master's 
cause. He appears to have 
been a man of ardent tempera- 
ment, though unequal in his feel- 
ings} as is evinced by his de- 
votedness to Jesus, Matt. 26 : 35, 
his denial of him, and his subse- 
quent penitence and grief. He 
was the first to preach the gospel 
directly to the Gentiles. Acts 
15:7,14; comp. c. 10. After- 
wards, at Antioch, having at first 
departed from the Jewish cus- 
toms, he again returned to them 
through fear of the Christians 
from Jerusalem, and on this oc- 
casion received a public reproof 
from Paul. Gal. 2:11, &c. The 
circumstances which are related 
of the subsequent periods of his 
life, are of more doubtful author- 
ity, viz. that he visited Rome, 
and there, in company with Paul, 
was condemned and put to death. 
The story which is to this day 
propagated in the Romish church, 
that he was the first bishop of 
Rome, and constituted by Jesus 
to be head of the church univer- 
sal, is altogether destitute of 
probability. 

Epistles of Peter. — We have 

two epistles attributed to Peter, 

by the common consent of the 

Christian church. The genuine- 

21* 



ness of the First has never been 
disputed, and is referred to as his 
accredited work, by several of the 
apostolical fathers. Commenta- 
tors have been divided in opinion, 
as to the persons to whom this 
epistle was primarily addressed; 
the best sustained hypothesis is, 
that it was intended for the Jew- 
ish and Gentile believers, indis- 
criminately, who were resident 
in the provinces enumerated in 
the introductory verses. It was 
written from Babylon, but wheth- 
er the Chaldean or the Egyptian 
Babylon, cannot be determined. 
(See Babylon.) The Second 
Epistle was addressed to the 
same persons as the former one ; 
its general design being to con- 
firm the doctrines which had been 
delivered in that, and to excite 
the Christian converts to a course 
of conduct becoming in every 
respect their high profession of 
attachment to Christ. 

PHARAOH is properly an 
Egyptian word adopted into the 
Hebrew, and signifies king ; so 
that when we find this name, it 
means everywhere the king. 
Thus also Pharaoh Hophra is 
simply king Hophra. 

Of the kings of Egypt, there 
are not less than eleven or twelve 
mentioned in Scripture, all of 
whom bore the general title of 
Pharaoh, except three. Along 
with this title, two of them have 
also other proper names, Necho 
and Hophra. The following is 
their order. Some of them have 
been identified, by the labors of 
Champollion, with kings whose 
proper names wp know from other 
sources ; while others still remain 
in obscurity : — 

1. Pharaoh, Gen. 12:15, in 

the time of Abraham. 

2. Pharaoh, the master of 

Joseph, Gen. 37:36. c. 41, 



PHA 



[246] 



PHA 



&c. Some suppose that 
the Pharaoh to whom Jo- 
seph became prime min- 
ister was the son of the 
one mentioned in Gen. 
37:36. 

3. Pharaoh, who knew not 

Joseph, and under whom 
Moses was born ; perhaps 
Ramses. Ex. 1:8, &c. 

4. Pharaoh, under whom the 

Israelites left Egypt, and 
who perished in the Red 
sea. Ex. c. 5. — 14. Prob- 
ably Amenophis. 

5. Pharaoh, in the time of 

David. IK. 11:19— 21. 

6. Pharaoh, the father-in-law 

of Solomon. 1 K. 3:1. 
7:8. 9:16,24. Probably 
Osochor. 

7. Shishak, near the end of 

Solomon's reign, and under 
Rehoboam. IK. 11:40. 
14:25. 2Chr. 12:2. Se- 
aonchosis. From this time 
onward the proper names 
of the Egyptian kings are 
mentioned in Scripture. 

8 So, or Sevechzis, contempo- 
rary with Ahaz. 2 Kings 
17:4, 

9. Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia 
and Egypt, in the time of 
Hezekiah. 2 K. 19:9. 
Isa. 37:9. Probably the 
Tearcho of Strabo, and 
the Taracles of Manetho. 

10. Pharaoh Necho, in the 

time of Josiah. 2 Kings 
23:29,30, &c. 2 Chr. 
35:20—24, &c. Necho, 
the son of Psammetichus. 

11. Pharaoh Hophra, con- 

temporary with Nebuchad- 
nezzar. Jer. 44:30. He 
was the grandson of Ne- 
cho, and is the Apries of 
Herodotus. 

PHARISEES, a numerous 
and powerful sect of the Jews, 



agreeing on some main points of 
doctrine and practice, but divided 
into different parties or schools 
on minor points, e. g. the schools 
or followers of Hillel and Sham- 
mai, who were celebrated rab- 
bins or teachers. The name is 
derived by some from the Heb. 
pdrash, to interpret 5 by others, 
from paras, to separate. In 
respect to their tenets, although 
they esteemed the written books 
of the O. T. as the sources of 
the Jewish religion, yet they also 
attributed great and equal au- 
thority to traditional precepts, 
relating principally to external 
rites 5 as ablutions, fastings, long 
prayers, the distribution of alms, 
the avoiding all intercourse with 
Gentiles and publicans. &c. See 
Matt. 6:5. 9:11. 23:5. Mark 
7:4. Luke 18:12. They were 
rigid interpreters of the letter of 
the Mosaic law, but not unfre- 
quently violated the spirit of it 
by their traditional and philo- 
sophical interpretations. See 
Matt. 5 : 31,43. 12:2. 19 : 3. 
23:23. Their professed sanctity 
and close adherence to all the 
external forms of piety, gave 
them great favor and influence 
with the common people, and 
especially among the female part 
of the community. They believed 
with the Stoics, that all things 
and events were controlled by 
fate ; yet not so absolutely as 
entirely to destroy the liberty of 
the human will. They consid- 
ered the soul as immortal, and 
held the doctrine of a future 
resurrection of the body. Acts 
23:8. It is also supposed by 
some, that they admitted the 
doctrine of metempsychosis, or 
the transmigration of souls : but 
no allusion is made to this in the 
N. T. nor does Josephus assert it. 
In many places of the N. T. Je- 
sus is represented as denouncing 



PHI 



[ 247 ] 



PHI 



the Pharisees as a body, for 
their hypocrisy in employing the 
garb of religion to cover the 
profligacy of their dispositions 
and conduct ; as Matt. 23:14. 
Luke 16 : 14, &c. while, on the 
other hand, there appears to 
have been among them individu- 
als of probity, and even of gen- 
uine piety j as in the case of 
Joseph of Arimathea, Nicode- 
mus, the aged Simeon, Gamaliel, 
&c. Matt. 27:57. Luke 2:25. 
John 3:1. Acts 5:34. 

PHARPAR, a river of Da- 
mascus. See in Abana. 

PHEBE, see Ph(ebe. 

PHENICE, or Phenicia, 
see Phoenicia. 

PHILADELPHIA, a city of 
Lydia, in Asia Minor, where was 
one of the seven Asiatic churches. 
Rev. 3:7. Philadelphia was so 
called from Attalus Philadelphus, 
king of Pergamos, by whom it 
was founded. It stood on a 
branch of mount Tmolus, by the 
river Cogamus, about twenty- 
eight miles east of Sardis. It 
greatly suffered by frequent earth- 
quakes, and it was anciently mat- 
ter of surprise, that the city was 
not on this account abandoned. 
It is now a mean but considera- 
ble town, of large extent, with a 
population of about 1000 Greek 
Christians, who have a resident 
bishop, and about twenty inferior 
clergy. (See Missionary Herald, 
1821, p. 253.) 

PHILEMON, a rich citizen of 
Colosse, in Phrygia, to whom 
Paul wrote an Epistle, on occa- 
sion of sending back to him his 
runaway slave Onesimus. See 
Onesimus, and Epistles of 
Paul. 

PHILIP is the name of four 

persons mentioned in the N. T. 

1. Philip the Apostle, one of 

the twelve, a native of Bethsaida. 

John 1:43-48. Matt. 10:3. 



Acts 1:13. Nothing further is 
known of his history. 

2. Philip the Evangelist, one 
of the seven primitive deacons 
of the church at Jerusalem. 
Acts 6:5. After the death of 
Stephen, when the Christians 
were scattered abroad, he preach- 
ed the gospel at Samaria, Acts 
8:5— 13 5 in ver. 14, he is dis- 
tinguished from the apostles. It 
was he also who baptized the 
Ethiopian treasurer. Acts 8:26 
—40. From Acts 21:8, he 
would seem afterwards to have 
settled in Caesarea. 

3. Philip the Tetrarch, a son 
of Herod the Great, by his wife 
Cleopatra, who, in the division 
of Herod's kingdom, was made 
tetrarch of Batanea, Trachonitis 
and Auranitis. Luke 3:1. (See 
Herod 1.) From him the citj 
of Caesarea Philippi took its 
name, which see. 

4. Philip, or Herod Phiap, 
another son of Herod the Great 
by Mariamne the daughter of 
Simon, not his favorite Mariam- 
ne. By Josephus he is called 
Herod. He lived a private life, 
having been disinherited by his 
father ; and was the former hus- 
band of Herodias. Matt. 14:3. 
See Herodias. 

PHILIPPI, a city of procon- 
sular Macedonia, so called from 
Philip, king of Macedon, who 
repaired and beautified it; 
whence it lost its former name 
of Dathos. In Acts 16:12, 
Luke says, "We came to Phi- 
lippi, which is the chief city of 
that part of Macedonia, and a 
colony," i. e. a Roman colony ; 
and hence probably Philippi is 
called the "first or chief city" of 
that part of Macedonia, from 
some peculiar privileges thus 
bestowed upon it, and not as 
being the capital of that division 
of the country ; since this honor 



PHI 



[ 248 ] 



PHI 



belonged to Amphipolis in the 
first division, and to Thessa- 
lonica in the second division. 

Philippi is celebrated as the 
scene of the final defeat of Bru- 
tus and Cassius by Octavius and 
Antony. A Christian church 
was planted here by Paul ; who 
afterwards addressed to them an 
Epistle, in which he speaks par- 
ticularly and warmly of their 
affection and liberality towards 
himself. Acts 16:12. 20:6. See 
Phil. 4:10, &c. 

PHILISTINES, a celebrated 
people, who inhabited the sea- 
coast of Canaan, which from 
them took the name of Philistia, 
or Palestine. They seem origi- 
nally to have migrated from 
Egypt to Caphtor, or Crete, 
Gen. 10:14, and thence to have 
passed over to Palestine under 
the name of Caphtorim, where 
they drove out the Avim, who 
dwelt from Hazerim to Azzah, or 
Gaza, and dwelt in their stead. 
Deut. 2:23. 

The Philistines were a power- 
ful people in Palestine, even in 
Abraham's time, B. C. 1900, 
since they had then kings, and 
considerable cities. They are 
not enumerated among the na- 
tions devoted to extermination, 
whose territory the Lord assigned 
to the Hebrews, probably be- 
cause they were not of the cursed 
seed of Canaan. Joshua, how- 
ever, did not hesitate to give 
their land to the Hebrews, and 
to attack them by command from 
the Lord; because they pos- 
sessed various districts promised 
to Israel. But these conquests 
must have been ill-maintained, 
since under the judges, at the 
time of Saul, and at the begin- 
ning of the reign of David, the 
Philistines had their kings and 
their lords. Their state was di- 
vided into five little kingdoms, or 



satrapies, and they oppressed 
Israel during the government of 
the high-priest Eli, that of Sam- 
uel, and during the reign of Saul, 
for about 120 years. Shamgar, 
Samson, Samuel and Saul op- 
posed them, and were victorious 
over them with great slaughter, 
at various times, but did not re- 
duce their power. They main- 
tained their independence till 
David subdued them, 2 Sam. 
5:17. c. 8, from which time they 
continued in subjection to the 
kings of Judah, down to the 
reign of Jehoram, son of Je- 
hoshaphat, when they revolted. 
2 Chr. 21:16. Jehoram made 
war against them, and probably 
reduced them to obedience j 
because it is observed that they 
revolted again from Uzziah, who 
kept them to their duty during 
his whole reign. 2 Chr. 26 : 6,7. 
During the unfortunate reign of 
Ahaz, the Philistines made great 
havoc in the territory of Judah j 
but his son and successor, Hez- 
ekiah, again subdued them. 2Chr. 
28:18. 2K. 18:8. They re- 
gained their full liberty, however, 
under the later kings of Judah j 
and we see by the menaces ut- 
tered against them by the proph- 
ets Isaiah, Amos, Zephaniah, 
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, that they 
brought many calamities on 
Israel, for which God threatened 
to punish them with great mis- 
fortunes. They were partially 
subdued by Esar-Haddon, king 
of Assyria, and afterwards by 
Psammetichus, king of Egypt j 
and there is great probability 
that they were reduced by Neb- 
uchadnezzar, as well as the other 
?eople of Syria, Phoenicia and 
'alestine, during the siege of 
Tyre. They afterwards fell 
under the dominion of the Per- 
sians, then under that of Alexan- 
der the Great, who destroyed 



PHI 



[ 249 ] 



PHGE 



Gaza, the only city of the Phoe- 
nicians that dared to oppose him. 
They appear to have become 
entirely incorporated with the 
other inhabitants of the laud, 
under the Maccabees, and are 
no more mentioned as a distinct 
people. 

PHILOSOPHY. Paul cau- 
tions the Colossians lest any man 
spoil them through philosophy. 
Col. 2:8. In Acts 17:18, it is 
related that when this apostle 
came to Athens, he there found 
Epicurean and Stoic philoso- 
phers, who made a jest of his 
discourses; and in many places 
of his Epistles, he opposes the 
supposed wise men, and the 
false wisdom of the age, that is, 
the pagan philosophy, to the 
wisdom of Jesus Christ, and the 
true religion, which to the phi- 
losophers and sophists seemed to 
be mere folly, because it was 
built neither on the eloquence 
nor the subtilty of those who 
preached it, but on the power of 
God, and on the operations of 
the Holy Ghost, which actuated 
the hearts and minds of be- 
lievers. 

About the time that the sev- 
eral sects of philosophers were 
formed among the Greeks, as the 
Academics, the Peripatetics, and 
the Stoics, there arose also among 
the Jews several sects, as the 
Essenes, the Pharisees and the 
Sadducees. The Pharisees had 
some resemblance to the Stoics, 
the Sadducees to the Epicureans, 
and the Essenes to the Academ- 
ics. The Pharisees were proud, 
vain and boasting, like the Stoics : 
the Sadducees, who denied the 
immortality of the soul, and the 
existence of spirits, freed them- 
selves at once, like the Epicure- 
ans, from all solicitude about 
futurity : the Essenes were more 
moderate, more simple and re- 



ligious, and therefore approached 
nearer to the Academics. 

PHCEBE, a deaconess of the 
church in the eastern port of 
Corinth, Cenchrea. It is most 
likely, from what the apostle 
says of Phoebe, viz. that " she has 
been a succorer of many, and of 
myself also/ 7 that she was a 
woman of property, not to say 
of distinction. Paul sent by her 
his Epistle to the church at Rome, 
to whom also he affectionately 
recommends her. Rom. 16:1,2. 

PHOENICIA, or Phenice, a 
name which, in its more ancient 
and extended sense, compre- 
hended a narrow strip of country 
extending nearly the whole length 
of the eastern coast of the Medi- 
terranean sea, from Antioch to the 
borders of Egypt. But Phoeni- 
cia Proper was included be- 
tween the cities of Laodicea in 
Syria, and Tyre, and compre- 
hended only the territories of 
Tyre and Sidon. Before Joshua 
conquered Palestine, this country 
was possessed by Canaanites, 
sons of Ham, divided into eleven 
families, of which the most pow- 
erful was that of Canaan, the 
founder of Sidon, and head of 
the Canaanites, properly so 
called, whom the Greeks named 
Phoenicians. Only these pre- 
served their independence under 
Joshua,and also underDavid,Sol- 
omon and the succeeding kings : 
but they were subdued by the 
kings of Assyria and Chaldea. 
Afterwards, they successively 
obeyed the Persians, Greeks and 
Romans. At this day, Phoenicia 
is in subjection to the Ottomans, 
not having had any national or 
native kings, or any independent 
form of government, for more 
than 2000 years. The name 
Phoenicia is not in the books of 
Hebrew Scripture ; but only in 
the Maccabees and the N. T. 



PHY 



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PIL 



The Hebrew always reads Ca- 
naan. Matthew calls the same 
person a Canaanitish woman, 
15:22, whom Mark calls a 
Syro-phoenician, 7:26, i. e. a 
Phoenician of Syria, because 
Phoenicia then made a part of 
Syria. 

PHRYGIA, an inland prov- 
ince of Asia Minor, bounded 
north by Bithynia and Galatia, 
east by Cappadocia, south by 
Lycia, Pisidia and Isaurea, and 
west by Mysia, Lydia and Caria. 
It was called Phrygia Paca- 
tiana, and also Phrygia Major, 
in distinction from Phrygia Mi- 
nor, which was a small district of 
Mysia near the Hellespont, occu- 



pied by some Phrygians after 
the Trojan war. The eastern 
part of Phrygia Major was also 
called Lycaonia. Of the cities 
belonging to this region, Laodi- 
cea, Hierapolis, Colosse and 
Antioch of Pisidia, are mentioned 
in the N. T. Acts 2:10. 16:6. 
18:23. 

PHYLACTERIES were little 
rolls of parchment, in which 
were written certain words of 
the law, and which were worn 
by the Jews upon their fore- 
heads, and upon the wrist of 
the left arm. The custom was 
founded on a mistaken interpre- 
tation of Ex. 13:9, "And it 
shall be for a sign unto thee upon 
thine hand, and for a memorial 
between thine eyes." And verse 
16, " And it shall be for a token 
upon thine hand, and for frontlets 
between thine eyes." 

Leo of Modena informs us 
particularly about these rolls. 
Those worn upon the forehead 
have been described under the 
article Frontlets, which see. 
Those that were to be fastened 
to the arms were two rolls of 
parchment written in square let- 
ters, with an ink made on pur- 



pose, and with much care. They 
were rolled up to a point, and 
enclosed in a sort of case of 
black calf-skin. They then 
were put upon a square bit 
of the same leather, whence 
hung a thong of the same, of 
about a finger's breadth, and a 
cubit and a half long. These 




rolls were placed at the bending 
of the left arm, and after the 
thong had made a little knot in 
the form of the letter Yodh, it 
was wound about the arm in a 
spiral line, which ended at the 
top of the middle finger. They 
were called Tephila shel Yad, or 
Tephila of the hand. 

PILATE, or Pontius Pi- 
late, was the fifth Roman pro- 
curator in the province of Judea. 
The first was Coponius, who was 
sent with Quirinus, or Cyrenius, 
after the banishment of Arche- 
laus. The second was Marcus 
Ambivius ; the third, Annius 
Rufus ; and the fourth, Valerius 
Gratus. He was succeeded by 
Pilate, A. D. 28, who continued 
in the province ten years. Pi- 
late became odious both to the 
Jews and Samaritans for the se- 
verity and cruelty of his admin- 
istration, and being accused by 
the latter before Vitellius, the 
governor of Syria, he was re- 
moved from his office and sent 



PIN 



[251 ] 



PIT 



to Rome to answer to their ac- 
cusations before the emperor. 
Before his arrival, Tiberius was 
dead ; and Pilate is said to have 
been banished by Caligula to 
Vienne in Gaul, and there to 
have died by his own hand. It 
was before Pilate that Jesus was 
brought by the Jews for condem- 
nation 3 and although conscious 
of his innocence, which he did 
not scruple to declare publicly, 
Matt. 27:24, jet probably wish- 
ing to gratify the Jews, and per- 
haps fearing an accusation of 
disloyalty, John 19:12,13, he 
yielded to their clamor, and de- 
livered Jesus over to be crucified. 
Matt. 27:2, &c. Mark 15:1, 
&c. Luke 13:1. 23:1, &c. 
John 18:29,&c. 19:1, &c. 

Pilate is described by Philo, 
as a judge accustomed to sell 
justice ; and for money, to pro- 
nounce any sentence that was 
desired. He mentions his rap- 
ines, his injuries, his murders, 
the torments he inflicted on the 
innocent, and the persons he put 
to death without form or process. 
In short, he seems to have been 
a man that exercised excessive 
cruelty during all the time of his 
government. 

PINE, a well-known tree, of 
the nature of the fir. It is spoken 
in Scripture of a tree growing 
on mount Lebanon, Isa. 41:19. 
60:13, which the Vulgate calls 
vlinus, elm; probably a species 
of platanus or plane-tree. 

PINNACLE of the temple. 
When the devil had tempted 
Jesus in the desert, Matt. 4:5, 
" he took him up into the holy 
city, and set him on a pinnacle 
of the temple ; and said to him, 
If thou be the Son of God, cast 
thyself down," &c. This pin- 
nacle was probably in some ac- 
cessible part, to which there was 
a passage by stairs; for as to 



the very vague, though common 
notion, of the person of Jesus 
being carried through the air by 
the power of the devil, it is by 
no means necessarily implied in 
the language. The summit or 
roof of the principal porch of the 
temple, next the southern wall of 
the court of the Gentiles, is said 
by Josephus to have been 500 
cubits, i. e. about 750 feet, above 
the bottom of the valley below, 
and may well be considered as 
the pinnacle spoken of. This 
statement, however, is not cred- 
ible, in its full extent, as it would 
make the temple nearly four 
times as high as the loftiest 
steeple in this country. 

PISGAH, a mountain range, 
east of the Jordan, of which 
Nebo was one of the peaks or 
summits. By comparing Deut. 
32:49 and 34:1, it would appear 
that Pisgah and the Abarim 
were only different names of the 
same ridge or range of moun 
tains. 

PISIDIA, a province of Asia 
Minor, lying mostly on mount 
Taurus, and having Lycaonia on 
the north, Pamphylia south, Ci- 
licia and Cappadocia east, and 
Phrygia and Lycia west. Paul 
preached at Antioch, its capital, 
Acts 13:14, and throughout Pi- 
sidia, 14:24. 

PISON, one of the four great 
rivers that watered Paradise, 
Gen. 2:11,12, and which ran 
through all the land of Havilah, 
where excellent gold is found. 
It has, of course, been placed as 
variously as the garden of Eden, 
to which article "the reader is re- 
ferred. 

PITHOM, one of the cities 
built by the children of Israel for 
Pharaoh in Egypt, during their 
servitude. Ex. 1:11. Thisis prob- 
ably the Pathumos mentioned 
by Herodotus, which he places 



POE 



[ 252 ] 



POE 



on the canal made by trie kings 
Necho and Darius, to join the 
Red sea with the Nile. See 
Egypt. 

PLEIADES, a cluster of 
seven stars in the neck of Tau- 
rus, or the Bull, one of the twelve 
signs of the zodiac. The sun 
enters Taurus about the middle 
of April j and the appearance 
of the Pleiades, therefore, marks 
the return of spring. Job 9 : 9. 
38:31. 

POETRY of the Hebrews. 
Of all ihefne arts, poetry alone 
was cultivated among the He- 
brews ; and was carried to a 
high degree of perfection. The 
poetry of this people was almost 
wholly lyric /—whether didactic, 
sententious or prophetic, it was 
still lyric. Now the essence 
of lyric poetry is the vivid ex- 
pression of internal emotions. 
It is, therefore, subjective ; in 
opposition to epic poetry, which 
treats of external objects, and is 
therefore objective. The chief 
subject of Hebrew poetry was 
religion, and then patriotism ; 
which, under the theocracy, was 
very nearly allied to religion. 
The most obvious and striking 
characteristic of the poetry of 
the Hebrews, is sublimity. Re- 
ligious poetry was in ancient 
times almost peculiar to the 
Jews ; the little that is found 
among other ancient nations is 
not worthy of comparison with 
it. So also the Koran, which is 
an attempted imitation of the 
poetical parts of the O. T. The 
present prevailing views of the 
nature of Hebrew poetry, of its 
rhythm, &c. were first proposed 
by bishop Lowth in his Lectures 
on the Poetry of the Hebrews. 

Hebrew poetry differs from 
Hebrew prose in three respects. 
(1.) In the peculiar poetical na- 
ture of the contents ; of which 



the characteristics are sublimity, 
boldness, abruptness, lofty meta- 
phors, &c. (2.) In the peculiar- 
ities of the poetic dialect or 
diction, which, however, are not 
so striking as among the Greeks 
and Romans. (3.) In rhythm, 
which differs from metre; the 
latter importing a measure of 
syllables or feet, the former 
a harmonious arrangement of 
words and members. It is the 
opinion of those best acquainted 
with the subject, that the He- 
brews had no prosody, i. e. no 
measure of syllables. Their 
rhythm consisted only in the 
symmetry or correspondence of 
the larger members. 

Rhythm may be of three spe- 
cies, viz. (1.) It may consist 
merely in the syllables, or in a 
succession of poetical feet, as 
dactyles, &c. without any larger 
pauses or members. (2.) It may 
also exist, where the poetical feet 
or measures of syllables are neg- 
lected, but a certain measure of 
the larger members or clauses is 
found. This last is the rhythm 
of the Hebrews. (3.) The third 
and most perfect form of rhythm 
comprises both the others, and 
appears in Greek, Roman and 
modern poetry. The rhythm of 
Hebrew poetry, then, consists in 
the parallelism of the mem- 
bers, (as it is called by Lowth,) 
of which the fundamental princi- 
ple is, that every verse must consist 
of at least two corresponding 
parts or members. 

Laws of Parallelism. — The 
parallelism of Hebrew poetry 
occurs either in the thought, or 
solely in the form. Of the for- 
mer there are three kinds, viz. 

1. Synonymous; where the 
two members express the same 
idea in different, but closely, 
and often literally, corresponding 
words : e. g. 



POE 



[ 253 ] 



POE 



Psalm 8 : 4. 

What is man, that thou art mind- 
ful of him ? 

And the son of man, that thou dost 
visit him ? 

Psalm 2 : 1. 
Why do the heathen rage ? 
And the peoole imagine a vain 
thing 

Psalm 2 : 4. 

He that sitteth in the heavens 
shall laugh ; 

The Lord shall have them in de- 
rision. 

Job 6 : 5. 
Doth the wild ass bray when he 

hath grass ? 
Or loweth the ox over his fodder ? 

So also the song of Lamech, 
Gen. 4:23, and Job 7:1, dec. 

2. Antithetical ; where an an- 
tithesis of thought is expressed 
by corresponding members : e. g. 

Proverbs 14: 11. 
The house of the wicked shall be 

overthrown ; 
But the tabernacle of the upright 

shall nourish. 

Proverbs 15 : 1. 
A soft answer turneth away wrath ; 
But grievous words stir up anger. 

3. Synthetic ; which is a mere 
juxtaposition ; or rather the 
thought is carried forward in the 
second member with some addi- 
tion ; the correspondence of 
words and construction being as 
before : e. g. 

Psalm 19:7,8,9. 
The law of the Lord is perfect, 

converting the soul : 
The testimony of the Lord is sure, 

making wise the simple. 

The statutes of the Lord are right, 

rejoicing the heart: 
The commandment of the Lord is 

pure, enlightening the eyes. 

22 



The fear of the Lord is clean, en- 
during for ever. 

The judgments of the Lord are 
true and righteous altogether. 

Mere rhythmical parallelism is 
that in which no similarity or 
correspondence of thought exists ; 
but the verse is divided by the 
caesura, as it were, into corre- 
sponding members. This is the 
most imperfect species of par- 
allelism ; and may be compared 
with the hexameter, divided by 
the caesura : e. g. 

Psalm 2 : 6. 
Yet have I set my king 
Upon my holy hill of Zion. 

Psalm 3 : 2. 
Many there be which say of my 

soul, 
There is no help for him in God. 

This is most common in the 
book of Lamentations ; where 
there is hardly any other species 
of parallelism. 

Thus far we have had regard 
to the simplest and most perfect 
parallelisms of two members ; 
such as are more usually found 
in the Psalms, Job, &c. But in 
the prophets and a few of the 
psalms, we find a less regular, 
and sometimes compound paral- 
lelism. Thus the parallelism is 
irregular, when one member is 
shorter than the other ; as Hosea 
4:17. 

Ephraim is joined to idols ; 
Let him alone. 

Of compound parallelisms 
there are various kinds 5 as when 
the verse has three members ; 
and the two first correspond to 
the third : e. g. 

Psalm 53 : G. 
O that the salvation of Israel were 
come out of Zion ' 



POE 



[ 254 ] 



PON 



When God bringeth back the cap- 
tivity of his people, 

Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall 
be glad. 

Or when the verse has four mem- 
bers ; of which the first and third 
correspond to the second and 
fourth :„e. g. 

Psalm 31 : 10. 

For my life is spent with grief, 

And my years with sighing; 

My strength faileth" because of 

mine iniquity, 
And my bones are consumed. 

Or the verse may have four 
parallel members ; as 

Psalm 1 : 1. 

Blessed is the man 

Who walketh not in the counsel 

of the ungodly, 
Nor standeth in the way of sinners, 
Nor sitteth in the seat of scorners. 

We may name Psalms 2 and 15 
as affording' examples of most 
of *he species of poetic paral- 
lelism. 

In the common manuscripts and 
editions of the Hebrew Bible, the 
members of the parallelisms in 
the poetical parts are not written 
or printed separately ; but the 
accents serve to divide them. In 
other editions, however, the 
members are printed separately. 
It is matter of regret, that this 
mode was not adopted in our 
English version ; since the com- 
mon reader has now often no 
means of distinguishing whether 
that which he reads is Hebrew 
poetry or Hebrew prose. Indeed, 
a good translation ought to adhere 
closely to the form of the original, 
and not give it a foreign costume. 
Hence tne mere parallelism 
should be exhibited, without 
metre, and generally without 



The preceding principles refer 
solely to the rhythm of Hebrew 
poetry. Besides this, there are 
other peculiarities; e. g. the 
strophe, as in Ps. 42, 43, where 
verses 5, 11 and 5, are a burden 
or refrain, repeated at the end of 
each strophe. So also the alpha- 
betic psalms and poems ; (see 
Letters;) and the psalms of 
degrees, in which the chief words 
of each verse are taken up and 
repeated at the beginning of the 
next verse. See Degrees. 

POMEGRANATE, the punica 
granatum of Linnaeus ; called 
also malum granatum, that is, 
granate apple, (pomme granate,) 
whence its name. The tree grows 
wild in Palestine and Syria, as 
generally in the south of Europe, 
and north of Africa. It is low, 
with a straight stem, reddish 
bark, many and spreading 
branches, lancet-formed leaves, 
bearing large and beautiful red 
blossoms. The fruit is of the 
size of an orange, of a tawny 
brown, with a thick, astringent 
coat, containing abundance of 
seeds, each enveloped in a dis- 
tinct, very juicy, crimson coat, 
whose flavor, in a wild state, is a 
pure and very strong acid ; but 
in the cultivated plant, sweet and 
highly grateful. Comp. Cant. 
4 : 13. Num. 13 : 23. Deut. 8:8. 
Artificial pomegranates were 
used as ornaments on the robe of 
the high-priest, Ex. 28:33, and 
also as an architectural ornament, 
1 K. 7:18. 

PONTUS, the north-eastern 
province of Asia Minor, bounded 
north by the Euxine sea, west by 
Galatia and Paphlagonia, south 
by Cappadocia and part of Ar- 
menia, and east by Colchis. It 
was originally governed by 
kings, ana was in its most flour- 
ishing state under Mithridates the 
Great, who waged a long and 



PRA 



[255 ] 



PRE 



celebrated war with the Romans, 
but was at length subdued by 
Pompey; after which Pontus 
became a province of the Roman 
empire. Acts 2:9. 1 Pet. 1:1. 

POTSHERD, a broken frag- 
ment or piece of an earthen ves- 
sel : not merely a brittle pot, but a 
piece of a pot ; a pot already 
broken. Isa. 45:9. 

POTTER'S-FIELD, apiece 
of ground that was bought with 
the money for which Judas sold 
our Saviour, but which he brought 
back again to the temple. See 
Aceldama. 

POWER. For the use of this 
word in 1 Cor. 11 : 10, see the ar- 
ticle Veil. 

PRAYER is the lifting up of 
the heart and soul to God, in the 
name and through the mediation 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. It is the communion of 
the heart with God, and is to the 
Christian the very life of the soul. 
Without this filial spirit, no one 
can be a Christian. 

In all ages God has delighted 
in the prayers of his saints. From 
the promulgation of the law, the 
Hebrews did not intermit public 
prayer in the tabernacle, or in 
the temple, as opportunity re- 
turned. It consisted in offering 
the evening and morning sacri- 
fices, every day, accompanied 
with prayers by the priests and 
Levites in that holy edifice. 
Every day they offered sacrifices, 
incense, offerings and first-fruits ; 
they performed ceremonies for 
the redemption of the first-born, 
or the purification of pollutions ; 
in a word, the people came 
thither from all parts to discharge 
their vows, and to perform their 
devotions, not only on great and 
solemn days, but also on ordinary 
days j but nothing of this was 
performed without prayer. 

Tn the later Jewish pravers 



we may observe their length 
and their tedious repetitions. 
These Christ reproves in Matt. 
6:7, and gives to his dis- 
ciples the form of the Lord's 
prayer as a beautiful model. In 
Eph. 6:18. 1 Thess. 5 : 17. 1 Tim. 
2:8. Paul directs that believers 
should pray in all places and at 
all times, lifting up pure hands 
towards heaven, and blessing 
God for all things, whether in 
eating, drinking, or any other 
action ; and that every thing be 
done to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 
10:31. In a word, our Saviour 
has recommended to us to pray 
without ceasing. Luke 18 .T. 
21:36. 

PRESS. This word is often 
used in Scripture not only for the 
machine by which grapes are 
squeezed, but also for the vessel, 
or vat, into which the wine runs 
from the press ; that in which it is 
received and preserved. Whence 
proceed these expressions : he 
digged a wine-press in his vine- 
yard, Matt. 21 :33 ; your presses 
shall run over with wine, Prov. 
3:10; to draw out of the press, 
&c. Hag. 2:16. It was a kind 
of subterraneous cistern, in which 
the wine was received and kept, 
till it was put into jars or vessels 
of earth or wood. 

PRETORIUM, a name given 
in the Gospels to the house in 
which dwelt the Roman govern- 
or of Jerusalem. Mark" 15:16. 
Comp. Matt. 27:27. John 18:28, 
33. Here he sat in his judicial 
capacity, and here Jesus was 
brought before him. This was 
properly the palace of Herod at 
Jerusalem, near the tower of An- 
tonia, with which it had commu- 
nication. Here the Roman pro- 
curators resided whenever they 
visited Jerusalem ; their head- 
quarters being properly at Cse- 
sarea. The pretorium or palace 



PRI 



[256] 



PRI 



of Herod (Eng. tr. judgment- 
kali) at Caesarea is also men- 
tioned, Acts 23 : 35. Paul speaks 
also of the pretorium (Eng. tr. 
palace) at Rome, in which he 
gave testimony to Christ. Phil. 
1 : 13. Some think, that by this 
he means the palace of the em- 
peror Nero 5 and others, that he 
means the place where the Ro- 
man prcetor sat to administer 
justice, that is, his tribunal. 
Others have maintained, with 
greater probability, that under 
the name of the pretorium at 
Rome, Paul would express the 
camp of the pretorian soldiers, 
whither he might have been car- 
ried by the soldier that always 
accompanied him, and who was 
fastened to him by a chain, as 
the manner was among the Ro- 
mans. 

PRICKS. The Greek word 
signifies properly a stimulus, a 
goad, with which oxen were 
driven from behind. Hence the 
proverbial expression, to kick 
against the goad, applied to those 
who rashly offer resistance to one 
who is more powerful than them- 
selves, and thus expose them- 
selves to severe retribution. Acts 
9:5. 26 : 14. The expression was 
common to the Greeks, Romans 
and Hebrews. 

PRIEST, one who officiates in 
performing the public worship of 
God. In the O. T. the priesthood 
was not annexed to a certain 
family, till after the promulgation 
of the law by Moses. Before 
that time, the first-born of each 
family, the fathers, the princes, 
the kings, were priests in their 
own cities, and in their own 
houses. Cain and Abel, Noah, 
Abraham and Job, Abimelech 
and Laban, Isaac and Jacob, 
offered, personally, their own 
sacrifices. In the solemnity of 
the covenant made by the Lord 



with his people, at the foot of 
mount Sinai, Moses performed 
the office of mediator, and young 
men were chosen from among 
Israel to perform the office of 
priests. Ex. 24:5. But after 
the Lord had chosen the tribe of 
Levi to serve him in his taber- 
nacle, and the priesthood was 
annexed to the family of Aaron, 
then the right of offering sacrifice 
to God was reserved to the 
priests of this family. Num. 
16:40. The punishment of Uz- 
ziah, king of Judah, is well 
known, who, having presumed to 
offer incense to the Lord, was 
suddenly smitten with a leprosv. 
2 Chr. 26:19. However, "it 
seems that on certain occasions 
the judges and kings of the He- 
brews offered sacrifice to the 
Lord, especially before a con- 
stant place of worship was fixed 
at Jerusalem. See 1 Sam. 7:9, 
where Samuel, who was no 
priest, offered a lamb for a burnt- 
sacrifice to the Lord. See also 
c. 9:13. 16:5. 13:9,10. 1 K. 
18: 31,33, &c. 

The Lord having reserved to 
himself the first-born of Israel, 
because he had preserved them 
from the hand of the destroying 
angel in Egypt, by way of ex- 
change and compensation, he ac- 
cepted the tribe of Levi for the 
service of his tabernacle. Num. 
3:41. Thus the whole tribe of 
Levi was appointed to the sacred 
ministry, but not all in the same 
manner ; for of the three sons of 
Levi, Gershom, Kohath and Me- 
rari, the heads of the three great 
families, the Lord chose the fam- 
ily of Kohath, and out of this 
family the house of Aaron, to 
exercise the functions of the 
priesthood. All the rest of the 
family of Kohath, even the chil- 
dren of Moses and their descend- 
ants, remained among the Levites. 



PRI 



[257] 



PRI 



The high-priest was at the 
head of all religious affairs, and 
was the ordinary judge of all 
difficulties that belonged thereto, 
and even of the general justice 
and judgment of the Jewish 
nation, as being at the head of 
all the priests by whom this was 
administered. Deut. 17:8 — 12. 
19:17. 21:5. 33:8,10. Ezek. 
44:2k He only had the privi- 
lege of entering the sanctuary 
once a }'ear, on the day of solemn 
expiation, to make atonement for 
the sins of the whole people. 
Lev. 16:2, &c. He was to be 
born of one of his own tribe, whom 
his father had married a virgin ; 
and was to be exempt from 
corporal defect. Lev. 21 : 13. 
In general, no priest who had 
anv defect of this kind could 
offer sacrifice, or enter the holy 
place to present the shew-bread. 
But he was to be maintained by 
the sacrifices offered at the taber- 
nacle. Lev. 21 : 17—22. 

God also appropriated to the 
person of the high-priest the 
oracle of his truth ; so that when 
he was habited in the proper 
ornaments of his dignity, and with 
the urim and thummim, he an- 
swered questions proposed to 
him, and God discovered to him 
secret and future things. He 
was forbidden to mourn for the 
death of any of his relations 
even for his father or mother ; or 
to enter into any place where a 
dead body lay, that he might not 
contract or hazard the contrac- 
tion of uncleanness. Lev. 21 : 10 
—12 

The ordinary priests served 
immediately at the altar, killed, 
skinned and offered the sacrifices. 
They kept up a perpetual fire on 
the altar of burnt-sacrifices, and 
in the lamps of the golden candle- 
stick in the sanctuary : they 
kneaded the loaves of shew- 
22 * 



fl bread, baked them, offered them 
on the golden altar in the sanc- 
tuary, and changed them every 
sabbath day. Every day, night 
and morning, a priest, appointed 
by casting of lots at the beginning 
of the week, brought into the 
sanctuary a smoking censer of 
incense, and set it on the golden 
table, otherwise called the altar 
of incense. Luke 1 : 9. 

The Lord had given no lands 
of inheritance to the tribe of 
Levi, in the Land of Promise. 
He intended that they should be 
supported by the tithes, the first- 
fruits, the offerings made in the 
temple, and by their share of the 
sin-offerings and thanksgiving 
offerings sacrificed in the temple ; 
of which certain parts were ap- 
propriated to them. In the peace- 
offerings they had the shoulder 
and the breast, Lev. 7:33,34} 
in the sin-offerings they burnt on 
the altar the fat that covers the 
bowels, the liver and the kidneys ; 
the rest belonged to themselves. 
Lev. 7:6,10. The skin or fleece 
of every sacrifice also belonged 
to them ; and this alone was no 
mean allowance. When an Is- 
raelite killed any animal for his 
own use, he was to give the priest 
the shoulder, the stomach and 
the jaws. Deut. 18:3. He had 
also a share of the wool when 
sheep were shorn. Deut. 18:4. 
Thus, though the priests had no 
lands or inheritances, they lived 
in great plenty. God also pro- 
vided them houses and accom- 
modations, by appointing forty- 
eight cities for their residence. 
Num. 35 : 1 — 7. In the precincts 
of these cities they possessed a 
thousand cubits beyond the walls. 
Of these forty-eight cities, six 
were appointed as cities of refuge 
for those who had committed 
casual and involuntary man- 
slaughter. The priests had thir- 



PRO 



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PRO 



teen of these cities; the others 
belonged to the Levites. Josh. 
21:10. 

A principal employment of the 
priests, next to attending- on the 
sacrifices and the temple service, 
was the instruction of the people 
and the deciding' of controver- 
sies ; distinguishing the several 
sorts of leprosy, divorce causes, 
the waters of jealousy, vows, 
causes relating to the law and un- 
cleannesses, &c. They publicly 
blessed the people in the name 
of the Lord. In time of war 
their duty was to carry the ark 
of the covenant, to consult the 
Lord, to sound the holy trumpets, 
and to encourage the army. 
Num. 10:8,9. Deut. 20:2. 

The Christian priesthood is the 
substance and truth of which that 
of the Jews was but a shadow 
and figure. Christ, the everlast- 
ing priest, according to the order 
of Melchisedec, abides forever, 
as Paul observes ; whereas the 
priests according to the order of 
Aaron were mortal, and, there- 
fore, could not continue long. 
Heb. 7:23, &c. The Lord, to 
express to the Hebrews what 
great favors he would confer on 
them, says he would make them 
kings and priests. Ex. 19:6. 
And Peter repeats this promise 
to Christians, or rather he tells 
them that they are in truth what 
Moses promised to Israel. 1 Pet. 
2:9. See also Rev. 1:6. 

PRISCA, or Priscilla, the 
wife of Aquila. See Aquila. 

PROPHET. The words proph- 
et and to prophesy, are used in 
Scripture in a wide sense. The 
proper meaning of prophet is a 
foreteller of future events. But 
sometimes it means simply one in- 
spired of God to speak, &c. God 
says to Moses, Ex. 7:1, " Aaron, 
thy brother, shall he thy prophet j" 
he shall explain thy sentiments to I 



the people. Paul, Tit. 1:12, 
quoting a Jfeathen poet, calls him 
a prophet. Scripture does not 
withhold the name of prophet 
from impostors, although they 
falsely boasted of inspiration. 
As true prophets, when filled by 
the energy of God's Spirit, were 
sometimes agitated violently, 
similar motions were called 
prophesying when exhibited by 
persons who were filled with a 
good or evil spirit. Saul, being 
moved by an evil spirit, proph- 
esied in his house. 1 Sam. 
18:10. 

The term prophesy is also used, 
1 Cor. 11:4,5. 14:1, &c. for 
"explaining Scripture, speaking 
to the church in public;" prob- 
ably because they who exercised 
these functions were regarded as 
under the direction of the Holy 
Spirit. So it is said in Acts 
13:1, that Judas and Silas were 
prophets ; that there were in 
the church at Antioch certain 
prophets and teachers ; that is, 
official instructers. God has set 
in the church, first, apostles, then 
prophets. 1 Cor. 12:28. See 
also Eph. 2:20. Rev. 18:20. 
Acts 21:9. 

The usual way by which God 
communicated his will to the 
prophets was by inspiration, 
which consisted in illuminating 
the mind, and exciting them to 
proclaim what the Lord had dic- 
tated. In this sense we acknowl- 
edge, as prophets, all the authors 
of the canonical books of Scrip- 
ture, both of the Old and New 
Testaments. God also commu- 
nicated information to the proph- 
ets by dreams and visions. Joel, 
2:28, promises to the people of 
the Lord that their young men 
should see visions, and their old 
men have prophetic dreams. 
Peter, Acts 10:11,12, fell into a 
trance at noon-day, and had a 



PRO 



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PRO 



revelation importing the call of 
the Gentiles. The Lord appeared 
to Abraham, to Job, and to Mo- 
ses, in a cloud, and discovered 
his will to thein. 

We have in the O. T. the 
writings of sixteen prophets ; 
that is, of four greater and twelve 
lesser prophets. The four greater 
prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, 
Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve 
lesser prophets are Hosea, Joel, 
Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Jonah, 
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 
Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. 

Chronological Order of the Pro- 
phets, according to Calmei. 

1. Hosea, under Uzziah, king 

of Judah, who began to 
reign B. C. 806 ; and un- 
der Jotham, Ahaz and 
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, 
and under Jeroboam II, 
king of Israel, and his 
successors. 

2. Amos, under Uzziah, B. C. 

780, and about six years 
before the death of Jero- 
boam II, king of Israel. 

3. Isaiah, at the death of Uz- 

ziah, and at the beginning 
of the reign of Jotham, 
king of Judah, B.C. 754; 
to the reign of Manasseh, 
B. C. 694. 

4. Jonah, under the kings Jo- 

ash and Jeroboam II, in 
the kingdom of Israel ; 
about the same time as 
Hosea, Isaiah and Amos. 
Jeroboam died B. C. 780. 

5. Micah, under Jotham, Ahaz 

and Hezekiah, kings of 
Judah. Jotham began to 
reign B. C. 754, and 
Hezekiah died B. C. 694. 
Micah was contemporary 
with Isaiah. 

6. Nahum, under Hezekiah, 

and after the expedition 



of Sennacherib, that is. 
after B. C. 710. 

7. Jeremiah, in the thirteenth 

year of Josiah, king of 
Judah, B. C. 625. Jere- 
miah continued to prophesy 
under Shallum, Jehoiakim, 
Jeconiah and Zedekiah, to 
the taking of Jerusalem by 
the Chaldeans, B. C. 584. 
It is supposed he died two 
years afterwards in Egypt. 

8. Zephaniah, at the begin- 

ning of the reign of Josiah, 
and before the twenty- 
eighth vear of that prince. 
B. C. 620. 

9. Joel, under Josiah, about 

the same time as Jeremiah 
and Zephaniah. But see 
under Joel. 

10. Daniel was taken into 

Chaldea, B. C. 600, the 
fourth year of Jehoiakim, 
king of Judah. He prophe- 
sied at Babylon to the end 
of the captivity, B. C. 540, 
and perhaps longer. 

11. Ezekiel was carried cap- 

tive to Babylon with Jec- 
oniah, king of Judah, B. C. 
595. He began to prophe- 
sy about B. C. 590. He 
continued till toward the 
end of the reign of Nebu- 
i chadnezzar, who died B. 
t C. 558. 

12. Habakkuk, in Judea, at the 

' .beginning of the reign of 
Jehoiakim, about B. C. 
606, and before the com- 
ing of Nebuchadnezzar. 

13. Obadiah, in Judea, after 

the taking of Jerusalem, 
B. C. 586, and before the 
desolation of Idumea. 

14. Haggai returned from the 

captivity B. C. 532, and 
prophesied in the second 
year of Darius, son of 
Hystaspes, B. C. 516. 

15. Zechariah prophesied in 



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PSA 



Judea, at the same time as 
Haggai, and seems to have 
continued after him. 

16 Ma lac hi has no date to 
his prophecies. He may 
probably have prophesied 
under Nehemiah, who re- 
turned into Judea, B. C. 
450. 

Besides these, there are many 
whose names appear in 
Scripture, but of whom 
we have no writings re- 
maining. 

The Prophetesses are, (1.) 
Miriam, sister of Moses. 
(2.) Deborah. (3.) Huldah. 

The prophets were the divines, 
the philosophers, the instructors, 
and the guides of the Hebrews 
in piety and virtue. They gen- 
erally lived retired, in some coun- 
try retreat, or in a sort of com- 
munity, where they and their dis- 
ciples were employed in study, 
prayer and labor. Their habi- 
tations were plain and simple. 
They exercised no trade for gain, 
nor did they undertake any work 
that was too laborious, or incon- 
sistent with the repose their em- 
ployment required. Elisha quit- 
ted his plough, when Elijah called 
him to the prophetic office. 1 K. 
19 : 20. Zechariah, 13 : 5, speaks 
of one who is no prophet, but a 
husbandman. Amos says, 7:14, 
he is no prophet, but a herdsman, 
and a gatherer of sycamore 
fruit. 

PROSELYTE, in the Jewish 
sense, a foreigner who adopted 
the Jewish religion, a convert 
from heathenism to Judaism. 
Matt. 23:15. Acts 2:10. 6:5. 
13:43. There were two species 
of proselytes among the Jews. 
The first were called proselytes 
of the gate, and were foreigners, 
cither bond or free, who lived 



among the Jews and conformed 
to their customs in regard to 
what the rabbins call " the seven 
precepts of Noah;" i. e. they 
abstained from injurious lan- 
guage in respect to God, from 
idolatry, homicide, incest, rob- 
bery, resistance to magistrates, 
and* from eating blood, or the 
flesh of animals killed without 
shedding their blood. The other 
class were called proselytes of 
justice, i. e. complete, perfect 
proselytes, and were those who 
had abandoned their former reli- 
gion, and bound themselves to the 
observance of the Mosaic law in 
its full extent. These, according 
to the rabbins, by means of cir- 
cumcision, baptism, and an offer- 
ing, obtained all the rights of Jew- 
ish citizenship. Among the more 
liberal Jews, however, there were 
those who did not consider cir- 
cumcision as in this case essen- 
tial, except as it enabled the per- 
son to partake of the paschal 
supper, which might not be eaten 
by an uncircumcised person. Ex. 
12:48. 

PROVERBS, the Book of, is 
probably a collection of the prov- 
erbs of Solomon, compiled by 
several hands : but we cannot 
hence conclude, that it is not the 
work of Solomon, who, being in- 
spired by divine Wisdom, com- 
posed no less than three thou- 
sand proverbs. 1 K. 4:32. 
Several persons might make 
collections of them ; Hezekiah 
among others, as mentioned c. 25: 
1 ; and Agur also, c. 30:1. 
From these collections might be 
composed the work which we 
now have ; and nothing is more 
reasonable than this supposition. 
It is no where said, that Solo- 
mon himself had made a col- 
lection of proverbs and sen- 
tences. 

PSALMS. The book of 



PSA 



[261] 



PSA 



Psalms is the poetical anthology, 
or flowers of the inspired poetry, 
of the Hebrew nation, contain- 
ing - productions of different au- 
thors in different ages. The He- 
brew name is tehillim, praises; 
which is not altogether appropri- 
ate, because many of the Psalms 
are rather elegiac ; but this name 
was probably given, because 
hymns in praise of God consti- 
tute the greater part of the book. 
Most of the psalms have the 
superscription mizmor, a poem, 
song. This word is rendered in 
the Septuagint by psalmus, i. e. 
a song sung to music, a lyric 
poem. The Greek psalterion 
means a stringed instrument; 
hence by a metaphor the book 
of Psalms is called Psalter. 
For the poetical characteristics 
of the Psalms, see the article 
Poetry. 

Classification. — Some writers 
have classified the psalms ac- 
cording to their poetic or proso- 
dic character, into odes, elegies, 
&c. The method of De Wette 
is preferable, who divides them 
according to their contents. In 
this way we may make six 
classes. 

I. Hymns in praise of Jeho- 
vah ; tehillim in the proper 
sense. These are directed to 
Jehovah from various motives 
and views} e. g. as the God of 
all nature, and the Creator of 
the universe, Ps. 8, 104 3 as the 
Protector and Patron of Israel, 
Ps. 20. 29, 33 ; or of individuals, 
with thanksgiving for deliver- 
ance from evds, Ps. 18, 30, 46, 47 ; 
while others refer to the more 
special attributes of Jehovah, 
Ps. 90,139. These psalms ex- 
press thoughts of the highest 
sublimity in respect to God, na- 
ture, <fec. 

II. Temple hymns 5 sung at 
the consecration of the temple, 



the entrance of the ark, &c. or 
intended for the temple service, 
Ps. 24,132. So also pilgrim 
songs, sung by those who came 
up to worship in the temple, etc. 
e. g. the so called songs of de- 
grees, Ps. 120, &c. See De- 
grees. 

III. Religious and moral songs 
of a general character 3 contain- 
ing the poetical expression of 
emotions and feelings, and there- 
fore subjective ; e. g. confidence 
in God, Ps. 23, 62, 125 5 devoted- 
ness to God, Ps. 16 3 longing for 
the worship of the temple, Ps. 
42, 43 3 prayers for the forgive- 
ness of sin, Ps. 51, etc. So also 
didactic songs; the poetical ex- 
pression of some truth, maxim, 
&c. Ps. 1,34, 128. Ps.15,32,50, 
&c. This is a numerous class. 

IV. Elegiac psalms, i. e. 
lamentations, psalms of com- 
plaint; generally united with 
prayer for help. This class has 
several subdivisions, viz. 

(1.) The lamentations of par- 
ticular individuals, Ps. 1, 17, 22, 
52,55, 56, &c. 

(2.) National lamentations ; 
where the poet laments over 
the circumstances of the nation, 
mostly in a religious view. Most 
of these psalms are of a late 
date 3 and none of them are 
from David, Ps. 44, 80, 137, &c. 
Some are both individual and 
national, Ps. 77, 102. 

(3.) These sufferings of the 
nation and of individuals inspire 
a melancholy view of life in 
general ; hence many psalms 
are general complaints against a 
wicked world, Ps. 12,14,36. 

(4.) Psalms, the authors of 
which attempt to reply to the 
complaining views of the pre- 
ceding class, and satisfy them of 
the goodness of God, &c. Ts. 
63,73. So the book of Job. 
This whole class comprises 



PSA 



[ 262 ] 



PSA 



about one third of the whole 
number of Psalms. 

V. Odes to king's, patriotic 
hymns, &c. Ps. 20, 21, 45, 110, 
&.c. 

VI. Historical psalms, in 
which the ancient history of the 
Israelites is repeated in a horta- 
tory manner, Ps. 78, 105, 106. 
114. 

The prophetic psalms are here 
distributed among- these various 
classes. Perhaps they might 
with more propriety constitute 
another separate class. 

Inscriptions. — With the ex- 
ception of twenty-five psalms, 
—hence called orphan psalms, — 
all the rest have inscriptions of 
various kinds, and often very 
difficult of interpretation. They 
refer to the different kinds of 
song, the melody or rhythm, the 
instrumental accompaniment, the 
choir who shall perform, &c. 
These are mostly very obscure ; 
because the music and musical 
instruments of the Hebrews are 
almost wholly unknown to us. 
On very good grounds, the in- 
scriptions, or at least many of 
them, are supposed to be of 
later date ; and for this reason 
our English translators have 
very properly separated the in- 
scriptions from the body of the 
psalms ; (in the Hebrew they 
are united with them ;) and given 
them merely as inscriptions. 

Authors and Age of the 
Psalms. — Most of those psalms 
which are assigned to an author, 
are ascribed to David and to his 
contemporaries, chiefly Levites 
and singers out of David's 
school. Psalm 90 is attributed 
to Moses. To David are assign- 
ed seventy-one psalms in the He- 
brew, and in the Septuagint 
eleven more ; of these, many 
cannot be his. The character of 
David's psalms is generally ele- 



giac, and expressive of a soft and 
pensive melancholy; but he is also, 
on various occasions, sublime ; as 
in Ps. 18, 29, &c. Twelve are 
ascribed to Asaph ; eleven to 
the sons of Korah ; two to Solo- 
mon ; and one to each of the 
singers Heman and Ethan, Ps. 
88,89. Those which are anony- 
mous are probably all later than 
David, and are imitations of 
his style and manner. The rab- 
bins have the custom to reckon 
all anonymous psalms to that 
author who has been last named ; 
thus Ps. 91—100, which are 
orphan psalms, they assign to 
Moses, because he is named as 
the author of Ps. 90, which next 
precedes these. Many of these 
later psalms are probably from 
pious, persecuted prophets and 
others in the time of the kings; 
some from the exile, and others 
later still, containing recollec- 
tions of the exile. Compare Ps. 
123, 124, 126, 137. Later than 
about this period, none would 
seem to have been written. 

Arrangement. — The whole col- 
lection of the Psalms appears to 
have first existed in Jive books ; 
after the example, perhaps, of 
the Pentateuch. Each book 
closes with a doxology. 

Book I. comprises Psalms 1 — 41. 
" II. " " 42—72. 

" III. " " 73—89. 

" IV. " " 90—106. 

" V. " « 107—150. 

The original collection would 
seem to have comprised psalms 
1—72. (See the subscription, 
Ps. 72:20.) As to arrangement, 
there seems, in part, to have 
been a plan ; and in part it is ac- 
cidental. (1.) Psalms of the 
same author are placed together ; 
though other psalms of the same 
authors also stand separately. 
So also psalms, of similar con- 



PSA 



[263] 



PSA 



tents are sometimes together, 
and sometimes separate. Thus 
Ps. 3 — 41 are all ascribed to 
David ; Ps. 42 — 49 are songs of 
the Korahites; Ps. 73—83 all 
belong to Asaph. But there are 
other psalms oi all these authors. 
(2.) One psalm occurs twice. 
Ps. 14, cornp. Ps. 53. Some oc- 
cur as parts of other psalms; e. g. 
Ps. 70 forms also a part of Ps. 
40. So also some psalms are 
repeated from other books of 
Scripture ; thus Ps. 18 is the 
same with 2 Sam. c. 22. A few 
psalms are compiled by bringing 
together verses out of other 
psalms and poems, a sort of 
cento ; e. g. Ps. 144. All these 
general appearances are best ex- 
plained by the hypothesis of a 
gradual origin of the whole book 
out of particular collections, 
each smaller collection preserv- 
ing its own arrangement. Thus, 
if we suppose Ps. 1 — 72 to have 
been the principal collection, 
then the other three books may 
have been collected at different 
times, and appended to it. The 
time of these collections cannot 
be determined. It would seem, 
however, to have been not before 
the exile; since the first book 
contains psalms apparently of 
that date. 

The character and value of 
the Psalms, so far as they con- 
tain the expression of religious 
and moral affections, are, per- 
haps, higher than those of any 
other book of the O. T. They 
exhibit the sublimest conceptions 
of God, as the Creator, Preserver 
and Governor of the universe ; 
to say nothing of the prophetical 
character of many of them, and 
their relation to the Messiah, and 
the great plan of man's redemp- 
tion. They present us, too, 
with the most perfect models of 
child-like resignation and devot- 



edness, of unwavering faith, and 
confidence in God. Luther, in 
his preface to the Psalter, has 
the following beautiful language : 
" Where canst thou find nobler 
words of joy, than in the psalms 
of praise and thanksgiving ? 
There thou mayst look into the 
hearts of all good men, as into 
beautiful and pleasant gardens ; 
yea, as into heaven itself. How 
do grateful, and fine, and charm- 
ing blossoms spring up there, 
from every kind of pleasing and 
rejoicing thoughts towards God 
and his goodness ! Again, where 
canst thou find more deep or 
mournful words of sorrow, than 
in the psalms of lamentation and 
wo 1 There thou mayst look 
again into the hearts of all good 
men, as upon death, yea, as if 
into hell. How dark and gloomy 
is it there, from anxious and 
troubled views of the wrath of 
God ! I hold, however, that no 
better or finer book of models, 
or legends of saints and martyrs, 
has existed, or can exist on earth, 
than the Psalter. For we find 
here, not alone what one or two 
saints have done, but what the 
Head of all saints has done, and 
what all holy men still do ; in 
what attitude they stand towards 
God, and towards their friends 
and enemies ; and how they con- 
duct themselves in all dangers 
and sufferings. And besides this, 
all sorts of divine doctrines and 
precepts are contained in it. 
Hence it is, that the Psalter is 
the book of all good men ; 
and every one, whatever his cir- 
cumstances may be, finds in it 
psalms and words suited to his 
circumstances, and which are to 
him just as if they had been put 
there on his very account ; and 
in such a way, that he himself 
could not have made, or found, or 
wished for better." 



PUB 



[264] 



PUR 



Psalms of Degrees, see in De- 
grees. 

PSALTERY. (See Harp.) 
The modern instrument called 
psaltery is flat, and in the form 
of a trapezium, or triangle cut off 
at the top, and is strung- with 
thirteen strings. It is struck with 
a plectrum, or small iron rod. 
This instrument, however, can 
hardly be said to be in use at the 
present day; and is most cer- 
tainly not the ancient nabla. 

PTOLEMAIS, see Accho. 

PUBLICAN, an officer of the 
revenue, employed in collecting 
taxes. Among the Romans 
there were two sorts of tax- 
gatherers : some were general 
receivers, who in each province 
had deputies ; they collected the 
revenues of the empire, and ac- 
counted to the emperor. These 
were men of great consideration 
in the government ; and Cicero 
says, that among these were the 
flower of the Roman knights, 
the ornaments of the city, and the 
strength of the commonwealth. 
But the deputies, the under-col- 
lectors, the publicans of the lower 
order, were looked upon as so 
many thieves and pickpockets. 



c pockets 
d, whicl 



Theocritus being aske 
was the most cruel of all beasts, 
answered, "Among the beasts 
of the wilderness, the bear and 
the lion ; among the beasts of 
the city, the publican and the 
parasite." Among the Jews, 
also, the name and profession 
of a publican was excessively 
odious. They could not, with- 
out the utmost reluctance, see 
pullicans exacting tributes and 
impositions laid on them by for- 
eigners — the Romans. The Gali- 
leans, or Herodians, especially, 
submitted to this with the great- 
est impatience, and thought it 
even unlawful. Those of their 
own nation who undertook this 



| office they looked upon as hea- 
then. See Matt. 18:17. It is 
even said, they would not allow 
them to enter the temple, or the 
synagogues ; to partake of the 
public prayers, or offices of judi- 
cature ; or to give testimony in a 
court of justice. 

There were many publicans 
in Judea in the time of our Sa- 
viour; Zaccheus, probably, was 
one of the principal receivers, 
since he is called "chief among 
the publicans," Luke 19:2; but 
Matthew was only an inferior 
publican, Luke 5:27. The 
Jews reproached Jesus with 
being a " friend of publicans 
and sinners, and eating with 
them." Luke 7:34. 

PUBLIUS, a wealthy inhabi- 
tant of Malta, when Paul was 
shipwrecked on that island, A. 
D. 60. Acts 28:7—9. Publius 
received the apostle and his 
company into his house very 
kindly, and entertained them 
three days with great humanity. 
PURPLE. It is related that 
the fine purple color was dis- 
covered by Hercules Tyrius, 
whose dog having by chance 
e-aten a shell-fish called murex, 
or purpura, and returning to his 
master with his lips tinged with 
a purple color, occasioned the 
discovery of this precious dye. 
Purple, however, is much more 
ancient than this, since we find 
it mentioned by Moses in several 
places. It comes from the sea- 
muscle, -purpura, and is of a 
reddish or crimson purple hue. 
There was another kind of blu- 
ish purple, or purple blue, made 
from a species of snail, conchy- 
lium, helix ianthina of Linnseus. 
This word is usually rendered in 
the English Bible by blue. Mo- 
ses used much wool of this crim- 
son purple color in the work of 
the tabernacle, and in the orna- 



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RAA 



of the high-priest. It was 
the color used by princes and 

freat men. by way of distinction, 
udg. 8:26. Luke 16:19. The 
Babylonians also clothed their 
idols in habits of a purple and 
azure color. Jer. 10:9. 

PUTEOLI, (the wells,) now 
Pozzuoli, a city in the Catnpania 
of Naples, on the northern side 
of the bay, eight miles north- 
west from that city. It was a 



Roman colony. Here Paul abode 
seven days. Acts 28 : 13. 

PYGARG, (white-rump.) This 
is properly the name of" a spe- 
cies of eagle 5 but is applied, 
in Deut. 14:5, to a quadruped, 
apparently a species of gazelle 
or antelope. So the Syriac ver- 
sion and Targums. Both the 
Arabic versions refer it to a 
species of mountain goat. 



Q- 



QU AIL S . The orie ntal qu ail 
is a bird of passage, and about 
the size of a turtle-dove. Has- 
selquist states that it is plentiful 
near the shores of the Dead sea 
and the Jordan, and in the des- 
erts of Arabia; and Diodorus 
affirms that it is caught in im- 
mense numbers about Rhinocolu- 
ra, in the south-west corner of 
Palestine. Burckhardt also found 
great quantities of them in the 
regions south of the Dead sea. 
The flocks of quails, therefore, 
which came up to the camp of 
Israel, are entirely credible ; and 
the miracle consisted in these 
immense flocks being directed to 
a particular spot, in the extreme 
emergency of the people, by 
means of " a wind from the 
Lord." Numb. 11:31. 

QUATERNION of soldiers, 
i. e. a detachment or division 



consisting of four men. Acts 
12:4. The Romans detached a 
quaternion or four men for a 
night guard, and divided the 
night into four watches, so that 
each soldier should in his turn 
be on guard three hours. (See 
Hours.) When, therefore, Her- 
od, who adopted the Roman 
customs, is said to have deliv- 
ered Peter to four quaternions 
of soldiers, it is to be understood 
that he was guarded by four 
men at a time, viz. two in the 
prison with him, and two before 
the doors, (comp. vs. 6,) and that 
they were relieved every three 
hours by four others : making in 
all sixteen men. 

QUEEN OF HEAVEN, a 
name given by the Hebrew idol- 
aters to the moon. Jer. 7:18. 
44:17,18. 



R. 



RAAMSES, or Rameses, a 
city built by the Hebrews, during 
their servitude in Egypt. Gen. 
47:11. Exod. 1:11. It was 
situated in the land of Goshen ; 
and appears to have been the 
23 



capital of that country. It was 
most probably the same with 
Heroopolis, situated on the great 
canal between tie Nile and Suez, 
where are now the ruins of 
Aboukeyshid. 



RAB 



[ 266 ] 



RAC 



RAB, RABBI. The word 
rab in Hebrew signifies chief; 
thus Nebuzaradan is the chief 
or captain of the guard, 2 K. 
25:8 j in Heb. rab; so Ashpe- 
naz is the rab, chief or master 
of the eunuchs. Dan. 1:3. At 
a later period, it was introduced 
as a solemn title of honor in the 
Jewish schools, and means mas- 
ter, teacher, doctor. There were 
various distinctions and degrees ; 
the term rab was accounted the 
least honorable ; ihat of rabbi, 
signifying - my master, being of 
higher dignity. Another form of 
the word was rabbun or rabbon, 
from which comes also rabboni, 
John 20:16; this was regarded 
as the highest title of honor, and 
was never formally bestowed on 
more than seven persons, who 
all belonged to the celebrated 
school oi' Hillel, and were pre- 
eminently distinguished by their 
rank and learning. The more 
common and usual appellation 
afterwards was rabbi ; and this 
has descended among the Jews 
to the present day. Matt. 23:7, 
8. John 1:38,49. 

RABBATH, or Rabbath- 
Ammon, or Rabbath of the 
children of Ammon, after- 
wards called Philadelphia, the 
capital of the Ammonites, was 
situated in the mountains of Gil- 
ead, near the source of the Ar- 
non, beyond Jordan. It was 
famous even in the time of Moses. 
Deut. 3:11. When David de- 
clared war against the Ammon- 
ites, his general, Joab, laid siege 
to Rabbath-Ammon, where Uri- 
ah lost his life by a secret order 
of his prince ; when the city was 
reduced to the last extremity, 
David himself went thither, that 
he might have the honor of tak- 
ing it. From this time it became 
subject to the kings of Judah ; 
• but the kings of Israel subse- 



quently became masters of it, 
with the tribes beyond Jordan. 
Towards the conclusion of the 
kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pi- 
leser having taken away a great 
part of the Israelites, the Am- 
monites were guilty of many 
cruelties against those who re- 
mained ; tor which the prophets 
Jeremiah and Ezekiel pro- 
nounced very severe prophecies 
against Rabbath, their capital, 
and against the rest of the coun- 
try, which probably had their 
completion five years after the 
destruction of Jerusalem. Anti- 
ochus the Great afterwards took 
the city. It is now called Am- 
man, and is about fifteen miles 
south-east of Szalt. Burckhardt 
found there extensive ruins, 
which he has described. 

RABBI and RABBONI, see 
Rab. 

RAB-MAG, a general officer 
of Nebuchadnezzar's army, at the 
taking of Jerusalem. Jer. 39:3. 
It means more probably chief of 
the magi, a dignitary who had 
accompanied the king of Baby- 
lon in his campaign. See Magi. 

RAB-SARIS, an officer sent 
with Rab-shakeh and Tartan, to 
summon Hezekiah. 2 K. 18:17. 
Jer. 39:3. It signifies the chief 
of the eunuchs. 

RAB-SHAKEH, that is, the 
chief butler, or cup-bearer, was 
an officer sent by Sennacherib, 
king of Assyria, to summon 
Hezekiah to surrender ; which 
message he delivered in a most 
insolent and oppressive manner. 
The history is told in 2 K. 19 : 17, 
&c. 2Chr.32:9,&c. Isa.c.36. 

RACA, a word derived from 
a Hebrew word signifying vain, 
trifling, brainless; otherwise, 
beggarly, 'worthless. It is thus 
translated by the Vulgate, in 
Judg. 11:3; in the English, vain 
men. The word includes a strong 



RAM 



[ 267 ] 



REB 



idea of contempt. Christ says, 
Matt. 5:22, whoever shall say to 
his brother, fiaca, shall be con- 
demned by the council, or sanhe- 
drim. 

RACHEL, a daughter of La- 
ban, and sister of Leah, was 
married to Jacob, by whom she 
had Joseph and Benjamin. She 
died in childbirth with the latter, 
whom she named Ben-oni, so?i 
of my pain ; but Jacob named 
him Benjamin, or the son of my 
right hand. See her history in 
Gen. c. 29.— 39. 

RAIN. In Scripture the early 
and the latter rain of Palestine is 
spoken of. The former falls in 
the latter part of October, the 
seed time of Palestine ; and the 
weather then continues variable,, 
with more or less rain the whole 
winter, until after the latter or 
spring rain, in the latter part of 
April. Afterwards, the weather 
becomes serene, and the crops 
ripen. The harvest takes place 
in May ; by the first or middle of 
August,the//7«7s are gathered in ; 
and from that time till the coming 
of the first or October rains, 
prevail the scorching heats and 
droughts of summer. 

RAM, or Battering Ram, a 
well-known engine of war, for 
battering down the walls of 
cities, mentioned in Ezek. 4:2. 
21:22, and used by Nebuchad- 
nezzar at the siege of Jeru- 
salem. 

RAMAH. This word signi- 
fies an eminence; and hence so 
many places in Palestine are 
named Ramah, Ramath, Ramoth, 
Ramathaint, &c. Sometimes 
the same place is called by one 
or other of these names indis- 
crimina'.elv, all signifying the 
same. Comp. in 2 K. 8:28,29. 
Sometimes Rama, or Ramoth, is 
joined to another name, to de- 
termine the place of such city, or 



eminence ; and it is sometimes 
put simply for a high place, and 
signifies neither city nor village. 
The principal Ramah was a 
city of Benjamin, between Geba 
and Bethel, toward the mountains 
of Ephraim, six miles from Je- 
rusalem north, and on the road 
from Samaria to Jerusalem. 
Baasha, king of Israel, caused it 
to be fortified, to obstruct the 
passage from the land of Judah 
into that of Israel. This is prob- 
ably the Ramatha, or Ramatha- 
im-zophim, of the prophet Sam- 
uel. 1 Sam. 1:1,19. 2:11, &c. 
(See Arimathea.) It was on 
the frontiers of Ephraim and 
Benjamin ; and frontier cities 
were often inhabited by both 
tribes. 

RAMATHA1M, see Ramah. 

RAMESES, see Raamses. 

RAMOTH, a famous city in 
the mountains of Gilead ; often 
called Ramoth- Gilead, and 
sometimes Ramath- Mizpeh, or 
the Watch-tower. Josh. 13:26. 
It belonged to Gad, was assigned 
to the Levites, and became one 
of the cities of refuge beyond 
Jordan. Deut. 4:43. Josh. 
20:8. 21:38. It was famous 
during the reigns of the later 
kings of Israel, and was the oc- 
casion of several wars between 
these princes and the kings of 
Damascus, who had conquered 
it, and from whom the kings of 
Israel endeavored to regain it. 
lK.c.22. 2 K. 8: 28,29. 2 Chr. 
22:5,6. 

RAVEN, a bird similar to the 
crow, but larger. It feeds on 
dead bodies ; and in its general 
characteristics resembles entirely 
the crow of America. 

REBEKAH, the wife of Isaac. 
The manner in which she was 
sought and obtained as his wife, 
exhibits a striking picture of ori- 
ental manners and customs. 



RED 



[ 268 ] 



REF 



Read the history in Gen. c. 24. 
c.25:20.— c. 28. 

RECHABITES. Scripture 
acquaints us, Jer. 35:2 — 11, that 
Jonadab, son of Rechab, in the 
time of Jehu, king 1 of Israel, 
laid an injunction on his posterity 
not to drink wine, not to build 
houses, not to plant vineyards, to 
have no lands, and to dwell in 
tents all their lives. This they 
continued to observe for above 
300 years ; but in the last year 
of Jehoiakim, king- of Judah, 
Nebuchadnezzar coming- to be- 
siege Jerusalem, the Rechabites 
were forced to take refuge in the 
city, still, however, lodging in 
tents. During this siege, Jere- 
miah received orders from the 
Lord, to invite them into the 
temple, and to offer them wine 
to drink. But they answered, 
u We will drink no wine ; for so 
Jonadab the son of Rechab, our 
father, commanded us," &c. 

REDEEMER, a name given 
by way of eminence to Jesus 
Christ, the Saviour of the world ; 
because he redeems or delivers 
mankind from the bondage and 
burden of their sins. In the law 
of Moses, Lev. 25 : 25,48, this title 
is given to one who has the right of 
redemption in an inheritance, or 
even to a near kinsman, who 
may redeem it from a stranger, 
or any Jew who had bought it. 
Such was Boaz, who, being one 
of the nearest relations of Elim- 
elech, married Ruth, the heiress 
of Elimelech, and thereby re- 
entered into the possession of her 
estate. Jeremiah redeemed the 
field of his nephew Hanameel, 
which was on the point of being 
sold to another. Jer. 32:7,8. 

The same person, i. e. the 
nearest kinsman, was also called 
77ie Redeemer of Blood, (Eng. 
Tr. The Avenger, or Revenger 
of Blood,) and had a right to 



revenge the blood of his mur- 
dered kinsman. Numb. 35:12, 
19,21. Deut. 19:6,12. To curb 
the resentment of these avengers, 
or redeemers, God appointed 
cities of refuge throughout Israel. 
See Refuge. 

RED SEA, see Sea. 

REFUGE, Cities of To 
provide security for those who 
should undesignedly kill a man, 
the Lord commanded Moses to 
appoint six cities of refuge, or 
asylums, that whoever should 
have thus spilt blood, might re- 
tire thither, and have time to 
prepare his defence before the 
judges 5 and that the kinsmen of 
the deceased might not pursue 
and kill him. Ex. 21: 13. Numb. 
.35: 11, &c. Of such cities there 
were three on each side Jordan. 
On the west were Kedesh of 
Naphtali, Hebron and Shechem ; 
on the east, Bezer, Golan and 
Ramoth-Gilead. Josh. 20:7,8. 
These cities served not only for 
Hebrews, but for all strangers 
who resided in the country. 
Deut. 19 : 1—10. The Lord also 
commanded, that, when the He- 
brews should multiply and en- 
large their land, they should add 
three other cities of refuge. But 
this command was never fulfilled. 

In our country, we do not dis- 
cover that distinguished wisdom 
in the institution of the cities of 
refuge, which there really was, 
With us, murder or manslaughter 
is prosecuted so regularly, that 
we are apt to overlook the policy 
of this national appointment of 
cities of refuge. But in the East, 
travellers inform us, that such 
is the vindictive and irritable 
spirit of the Arabs and other 
inhabitants, that if one sheikh 
should seriously say to another, 
" Thy bonnet is dirty," or " The 
wrong side of thy turban is out," 
nothing but blood can wash away 



REF 



[ 2G9 ] 



REI 



the reproacn ; and not merely 
the blood of the offender, but 
that also of all the males of his 
family ! In several districts in 
Arabia, the relations of a person 
who has been slain have leave 
either to accept a composition in 
moneij, or to require the murder- 
er to surrender himself to justice, 
or even to wreak their vengeance 
upon his whole family. Indeed, 
the custom of blood-revenge ap- 
pears to have been an institution, 
or we may almost say a princi- 
ple, very early introduced and 
practised among: the nomadic 
oriental tribes. So firmly was 
this practice established among 
the Israelites, before their en- 
trance into the promised land, 
and probably also even before 
their sojourning in Egypt, that 
Moses was directed by Jehovah 
not to attempt to eradicate it en- 
tirely ; but only to counteract 
and modify it by the institution 
of cities of refuge. The custom 
of avenging the blood of a mem- 
ber of a family or tribe, upon 
some member of the tribe or 
family of the slayer, still exists 
in full force among the modern 
Bedouins ; the representatives, 
in a certain sense, of the ancient 
Israelites in the desert. They 
prefer this mode of self-ven- 
geance. Niebuhr informs us 
expressly, that " the Arabs rather 
avenge themselves, as the law 
allows, upon the family of the 
murderer, and seek an opportu- 
nity of slaying its head, or most 
considerable person, whom they 
regard as being properly the 
person guilty of the crime, as 
it must have been committed 
through his negligence, in watch- 
ing over the conduct of those 
under his inspection. In the 
mean time, the judges seize the 
murderer, and detain him till he 
has paid a fine of 200 crowns. 
23* 



Had it not been for this fine, so 
absurd a law must have been 
long since repealed. From this 
time, the two families are in con- 
tinual fears, till some one or other 
of the murderer's family be slain. 
No reconciliation can take place 
between them, and the quarrel 
is still occasionally renewed. 
There have been instances of 
such family feuds lasting forty 
years. If, in the contest, a man 
of the murdered person's family 
happens to fall, there can be no 
peace until two others of the 
murderer's family have been 
slain." How far superior to this 
was the Mosaic institution of 
cities of refuge ! where the in- 
voluntary homicide might re- 
main in peace till the death of 
the high-priest, and then go forth 
in safety; while a really guilty per- 
son did not escape punishment. 

REGENERATION means 
new birth, and in a moral sense, 
that change from a carnal to a 
Christian life, which takes place 
through the influence of the Holy 
Spirit, in every sincere believer 
and follower of our Lord. 

REHOBOAM, the son and 
successor of Solomon, by Na- 
Ewnah, an Ammonitess. 1 K. 
c. 12. c. 14:21, &c. 2 Chr. c. 10. 
— 12. He was forty-one years 
old when he began to reign ; 
and was therefore born in the 
first year of his father's reign. 
He ascended the throne about 
970 B. C. and reigned seventeen 
years at Jerusalem. Under his 
reign the tpn tribes revolted, and 
formed the kingdom of Israel 
under Jeroboam. 

REINS, or Kidneys. The 
Hebrews often make the reins 
the seat of the affections, and 
ascribe to them knowledge, joy, 
pain, pleasure ; hence in Scrip- 
ture it is so often said, that God 
searches the heart and the reins 



REP 



[ 270 ] 



RES 



REMPHAN, an idol, the same 
as Chiun. Comp. Amos 5:26, 
and Acts 7:43. See Chiun. 

REPENTANCE, a change 
of mind, accompanied with re- 

fret and sorrow for something 
one, and an earnest wish that it 
was undone. Such was the re- 
pentance of Judas, Matt. 27:3; 
and so it is said that Esau found 
no place of repentance in his 
father Isaac, although he sought 
it with tears, Heb. 12:17; i. e. 
Isaac would not change what he 
had done, and revoke the bless- 
ing given to Jacob, Gen. c. 27. 
But the true gospel repentance, 
or repentance unto life, is sor- 
row for sin, grief for having com- 
mitted it, and a turning away 
from it with abhorrence, accom- 
panied with sincere endeavors, 
in reliance on God's grace and 
the aids of the Holy Spirit, to 
live in humble and holy obedi- 
ence to the commands and will 
of God. This is that repentance 
to which is promised the free 
forgiveness of sin through the 
merits of Jesus Christ. 

REPETITIONS in prayers, 
which our Saviour censures, Matt. 
6:7, were short forms or particu- 
lar expressions in prayer, which 
the Jews were accustomed to re- 
peat a certain number of times. 
So the Roman Catholics still re- 
peat the Lord's prayer, and other 
prayers, a great number of times, 
and think that the oflener the 
prayer is repeated, the more ef- 
ficacious it is ; i. e. if repeated 
200 times, it will be twice as 
good as if repeated only 100 
times. 

REPHAIM, ancient giants of 
Canaan, of whom there were 
several families. There were 
Rephaim beyond Jordan, at 
Ashtaroth Karnaim, in the time 
of Abraham, Gen. 14:5; also 
some in the time of Moses. Og, 



king of Bashan, was of the Re- 
phaim. In the time of Joshua, 
some of their descendants dwelt 
in the land of Canaan, Josh. 
12:4. 17:15, and we hear of 
them in David's time, in the city 
of Gath, 1 Chr. 20:4—6. The 
giant Goliath and others were 
remains of the Rephaim. Their 
magnitude and strength are often 
spoken of in Scripture. 

Hie Valley of the Rephaim, or 
Giants, was famous in Joshua's 
time, and also in David's. Josh. 
15:8. 18:16. 2 Sam. 5:18,22. 
1 Chr. 11:15. 14:9. It is placed 
as one limit of the portion of 
Judah. It was near Jerusalem, 
and it may be doubted whether 
it belonged to Judah or to Ben- 
jamin, because of the contiguity 
of these two tribes. Eusebius 
places it in Benjamin ; but Josh. 
18:16, and those passages of the 
books of Samuel where it is 
mentioned, hint that it belonged 
to Judah, and was south or west 
of Jerusalem, towards Bethle- 
hem and the Philistines. 

REPHID1M, an encampment 
of the Israelites near mount 
Sinai, where the people mur- 
mured, and God gave the:n 
water from the rock. Ex. c. 17. 
See under Sinai. 

RESURRECTION, revival 
from the dead. The belief of a 
resurrection is an article of re- 
ligion common to Jew and Chris- 
tian ; and is expressly taught in 
both Testaments. We speak 
not hereof that miraculous resur- 
rection, which consists in re- 
viving for a time, to die again 
afterwards ; as Elijah, Elisha. 
Christ, and his apostles, raised 
some from the dead ; but of a 
a general resurrection of the 
dead, which will take place at 
the end of the world, and which 
will be followed by an immortal- 
ity either of happiness or of mis- 



REV 



[ 271 ] 



RHO 



ery. So ih^ psalmist says, 16:10, 
" For thou wilt not leave my soul 
in hell, [the grave,] neither wilt 
thou suffer thine holy one to see 
corruption." 

When our Saviour appeared 
in Judea, the resurrection from 
the dead was received as a prin- 
cipal article of religion by the 
whole Jewish nation, except the 
Sadducees, whose error our Sa- 
viour has effectually confuted. 
He has promised his faithful ser- 
vants a complete state of happi- 
ness after the general resurrec- 
tion ; and he arose himself from 
the dead, to give, among other 
things, a proof in his own person, 
a pledge, a pattern of the future 
resurrection. Paul, in almost all 
his epistles, speaks of a general 
resurrection ; refutes those who 
denied or opposed it 3 proves it 
to those who had difficulties 
about it ; in some degree ex- 
plains the mystery, the manner, 
and several circumstances of it ; 
says, that to deny it, is the same 
as to deny our Saviour's resur- 
rection ; and that, if we were 
not to rise again from the dead, 
we should be of all men the 
most miserable. 1 Cor. c. 15. 

REUBEN, {behold, a son!) 
so called in reference to the sen- 
timent of his mother, " The Lord 
hath looked on my affliction ;" 
the eldest son of Jacob and 
Leah. Gen. 29:32* Reuben, 
having- denied his father's concu- 
bine Bilhah, lost his birthright, 
and all the privileges of primo- 
geniture. Gen. 35:22. His tribe 
was never very numerous, nor 
very considerable in Israel. 
They had their inheritance be- 
yond Jordan, between the brooks 
Anion south, and Jazer north, 
having the mountains of Gilead 
east, and Jordan west. 

REVELATION, an extraor- 
dinary and supernatural discov- 



ery made to the mind of man j 
whether by dream, vision, ecsta- 
sy, or otherwise. Paul, alluding 
to his visions and revelations, 
2 Cor. 12:1,7, speaks of them 
in the third person, out of mod- 
esty ; and declares, that he could 
not tell whether he were in the 
body or out of the body. Else- 
where he says that he had re- 
ceived his gospel by a particular 
revelation. Gal. 1:12. 

For the book of Revelation, 
see Apocalypse. 

REVENGER, or Revenger 
of Blood, is a name given in 
Scripture to the man who had 
the right, according to the Jewish 
polity, of taking revenge on him 
who had killed one of his rela- 
tions. If a man had been guilty 
of manslaughter, involuntarily 
and without design, he fled to a 
city of refuge. See under Ref 
uge. 

RHEGIUM, a city of Italy, 
in the kingdom of Naples, on 
the coast near the south-west ex- 
tremity of Italy, opposite to 
Messina in Sicily. It is now 
called Reggio. The ship in 
which Paul was on his way 
to Rome touched here. Acts 
28:13,14. 

RHODES, an island and fa- 
mous city of the Levant, the 
ancient name of which was As- 
teria, Ophiusa and Etheria. Its 
modern name alludes to the 
great quantity and beauty of the 
roses that grew there. It is 
chiefly famous for its brazen 
Colossus, which was 105 feet 
high, made by Chares of Lyndus : 
it stood across the mouth of the 
harbor of the city Rhodes, and 
continued perfect only fifty-six 
years, being thrown down by an 
earthquake, under the reign of 
Ptolemy Euergetes, king- of 
Egypt, who began to reign B. C. 
244. When Paul went to Jeru- 



RIN 



[ 272 ] 



ROE 



salem, A. D. 58, he visited 
Rhodes. Acts 21 : 1. 

RIBLAH, a city of Syria, in 
the country of Hamath, the situ- 
ation of which, however, has 
been matter of dispute. The 
Babylonians, in their incursions 
into Palestine, were accustomed 
to take their way over Hamath 
and Riblah. Mr. Buckingham 
mentions a place Rebla, about 
thirty miles south of Hamath, on 
the Orontes, in which the ancient 
Riblah is doubtless to be recog- 
nized. 2 K. 23:33. 25:6. Jer. 
39:5. 

RIGHT HAND. The right 
hand is the symbol of power and 
strength ; whence the effects of 
the divine omnipotence are often 
ascribed to the right hand of the 
Most High. Ex. 15:6. Psalm 
21:8. 

The right hand commonly de- 
notes the south, as the left hand 
denotes the north. The Hebrews 
always speak of the quarters of 
the world in respect of a person 
whose face is turned to the east, 
his back to the west, his right 
hand to the south, and his left 
hand to the north. See East. 

RINGS, ornaments for the 
ears, nose, legs or lingers. The 
antiquity of rings appears from 
Scripture and from profane au- 
thors. Judah left his ring with 
Tamar. Gen. 38:18. When 
Pharaoh committed the govern- 
ment of Egypt to Joseph, he 
gave him his ring from his finger. 
Gen. 41:42. After the victory 
of the Israelites over the Midi- 
anites, they offered to the Lord 
the rings, the bracelets, and the 
golden necklaces, taken from the 
enemy. Numb. 31:50. The 
Israelitish women wore rings, 
not only on their fingers, but also 
in their nostrils and their ears, 
and on their ankles. (See 
Bracelets.) James distin- 



fuishes a man of wealth and 
ignily by the ring of gold on 
his finger. Jam. 2:2. At the 
return of the prodigal son, his 
father ordered a handsome ap- 
parel for his dress, and that a 
ring should be put on his finger. 
Luke 15:22. 

The ring was used chiefly as a 
signet to seal with, and Scripture 
generally assigns it to princes 
and great persons ; as the king of 
Egypt, Joseph, Ahaz, Jezebel j 
king Ahasuerus, his favorite 
Haman, Mordecai, king Darius, 
&c. 1 Kings 21: 8. Esth.3:10, 
&c. Dan. 6:17. The patents 
and orders of these princes 
were sealed with their rings or 
signets, an impression from which 
was their confirmation. See 
Seal. 

RIVER, a running stream of 
water. The Hebrews give the 
name of the river, without addi- 
tion, sometimes to the Nile, 
sometimes to the Euphrates, and 
sometimes to the Jordan. The 
tenor of the discourse must de- 
termine the sense of this uncer- 
tain and indeterminate way of 
speaking. They give also the 
name of river to brooks and riv- 
ulets that are not very consider- 
able. 

The principal rivers and 
brooks of Palestine were the 
Jordan, the Arnon, the Jabbok, 
the Kishon, the Kidron, the Bar- 
rady, or Abanah and Pharpar, 
rivers of Damascus. See their 
respective articles. 

ROBES, see Garments. 

ROE is the smallest species 
of deer, cervus capreolus, and is 
still found in Scotland and Ger- 
many. But the Hebrew word 
translated roe in the Bible, refers 
to the oriental antelope or gazelle. 

This gazelle or antelope is 
the antilopa cervicapra or dor- 
cas of Linnaeus, the common 



ROE 



[ 273 ] 



ROM 



antelope. It is about two and 
a half feet in height, of a red- | 
dish-brown color, with the bel- j 
ly and feet white, has long-, 
naked ears, and a short, erect 
tail. The horns are black, about 
twelve inches long, and bent like 
a lyre. It inhabits Barbary, 
Egypt, Arabia and Syria, and 
is about half the size of a fallow 
deer. It goes in large flocks, is 
easily tamed, though naturally 
very timid ; and its flesh is reck- 
oned excellent food. 

There are no less than twenty- 
nine species of antelopes in all. 
This animal constitutes a genus 
between the deer and the goat. 
They are mostly confined to 
Asia and Africa, inhabiting the 
hottest regions of the old world, 
or the temperate zones near the 
tropics. None of them, except 
the chamois and the saiga, are 
found in Europe. In America 
only one species has yet been 
found, viz. the Missouri antelope, 
which inhabits the country west 
of the Mississippi. Antelopes 
chiefly inhabit hilly countries, 
though some reside in the plains ; 
and some species form herds of 
two or three thousand, while 
others keep in small troops of 
five or six. These animals are 
elegantly formed, active, restless, 
timid, shy, and astonishingly 
swift, running with vast bounds, 
and springing or leaping with 
surprising elasticity; they fre- 
quently stop for a moment in the 
midst of their course to gaze at 
their pursuers, and then resume 
their flight. 

The chase of these animals is 
a favorite diversion among the 
eastern nations ; and the ac- 
counts that are given of it sup- 
ply ample proofs of the swiftness 
of the antelope tribe. The 
greyhound, the fleetest of dogs, 
is usually o'utrun by them ; and 



the sportsman is obliged to have 
recourse to the aid of the falcon, 
which is trained to the work, for 
seizing on the animal and im- 
peding its motion, that the dogs 
may thus have an opportunity of 
overtaking it. In India and Per- 
sia a sort of leopard is made use 
of in the chase; and this animal 
takes its prey not by swiftness 
of foot, but by its astonishing 
springs, which are similar to 
those of the antelope ; and yet 
if the leopard should fail in its 
first attempt, the game escapes. 

The fleetness of this animal 
has been proverbial in the coun- 
tries which it inhabits, from 
the earliest time ; as also the 
beauty of its eyes. So that to 
say, " You have the eyes of a 
gazelle," is used as the greatest 
compliment that can be paid to a 
fine woman. 

ROGEL, a fountain near Je- 
rusalem, in Judah. Josh. 15:7. 
18:16. 2Sam. 17:17. IK. 1:9. 
The name signifies the fullers 
fountain, in wnich, probably, the 
articles were washed, by tread- 
ing with the feet. It seems to 
have been not far from the 
fountain Siloam. 

ROLL, see Book. 

ROME, ROMANS. The 
city of Rome is in some respects 
the most celebrated on earth ; as 
it was long the mistress of the 
heathen world, and has since 
been for many centuries the ec- 
clesiastical capital of the Chris- 
tian world. It was founded by 
Romulus 752 years before Christ, 
and governed for a time by kings. 
After the expulsion of Tarquin, 
B. C. 509, it was governed by 
two consuls, elected annually ; 
and this form of government 
continued several centuries, and 
indeed after the real power had 
passed into the hands of a sove- 
reign. Julius Ceesar first ac- 



ROM 



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ROS 



quired the sovereign power, 
though he refused the name of 
emperor. His nephew Octavius, 
afterwards Augustus, took the 
name of emperor about 30 B. C. 
In his reign our Saviour was 
born. The succeeding Roman 
emperors, who ruled over the 
whole of the then known world, 
were mostly distinguished only 
for their cruelties, debaucheries 
and licentiousness ; until Con- 
stantine embraced Christianity 
and made it the religion of his 
empire. By transferring the 
seat of his empire to Constanti- 
nople, A. D. 328, he gave a fatal 
blow to the power and influence 
of Rome ; which thenceforth con- 
tinued to be only the ecclesiasti- 
cal metropolis of the western 
church. But as such she acquired 
afterwards, under the popes, an 
immense power, which still con- 
tinues in Catholic countries ; but 
which has received its death- 
wound through Protestantism, 
and the consequent enlightening 
of the popular mind. At the 
present day, Rome is rendered 
deeply interesting by the magnif- 
icent ruins of its former greatness. 
In the books of the O. T. no 
direct allusion is apparently 
made to Rome, or to the Roman 
power. Up to the time when 
the canon of the O. T. was closed, 
before B. C. 400, the Romans 
had not so far extended their 
conquests, as to bring them in 
contact with the Jews. But in 
the books of the Maccabees, and 
in the N. T. they are often men- 
tioned. See 1 Mac. 8:1, &c. 
The first alliance between the 
Jews and Romans was made by 
Judas Maccabeus, B. C. 162. 
This was renewed by his brother 
Jonathan, B. C. 144. After this 
time, the Romans had enough to 
do with the Jewg, not only under 
the Herods, but also when re- 



duced to the form of a Roman 
province ; until at last they were 
dri ven utterly to exterminate them 
from the country. They took the 
city of Jerusalem not less than 
three times ; first under Pompey, 
B. C. 63 j again under Sosius, 
B. C. 33 3 and at last under Ti- 
tus, A. D. 72, when both the city 
and temple were destroyed. 
See Judea. 

The Epistle to the Romans is 
one of the most important of all 
the writings of Paul. (See under 
Paul.) It was probably written 
in consequence of feelings which 
existed between Jewish and Gen- 
tile converts, not only at Rome, 
but everywhere. The Jew felt 
himself to have a privilege su- 
perior to the Gentile ; who, on 
the other hand, did not allow this 
superiority, and was vexed by 
the assertion of it. In reference 
to this, in the first five chapters, 
the apostle proves that neither 
Gentile nor Jew has any privi- 
lege of birth or personal merit, 
but receives all through the mere 
sovereign grace of God, Christ 
alone being our justification. He 
then proceeds to exhibit Christ 
as our sanctijUcation ; answers 
the objections 'made to the doc- 
trine of gratuitous justification, 
that it tends to encourage sin, 
and that God has no right to 
treat mankind in this way. In 
c. 10, 11, he applies all this to 
the Jews. In the remainder of 
the epistle, which is hortatory, 
the apostle lays down many 
practical rules of conduct, which 
are of the highest moment to all 
Christians. 

ROOF, see House. 

ROSE, a well-known shrub. 
It is evident from Ecclus. 24:14, 
that the rose was a favorite with 
the Jewish people, and also, that 
" the rose of Jericho" was a very 
different plant from that now 



SAB 



[275] 



SAB 



bearing 1 the same name. In 
Cant. 2:1, Solomon has chosen 
the rose to represent the match- 
less excellences of the bride : 
" I am the rose of Sharon ;" 
but the ancient versions, as the 
Septuagint, Vulgate, and also 
the Targum on Isaiah, render 
the Hebrew word by lily, or 
narcissus ; of which the latter is 
to be preferred. The Syriac, 
however, renders it by a word 
signifying the colchicum autum- 
nale, a bulbous, crocus-like plant, 
with flowers of white and violet. 
We may, therefore, assume it to 
be either the narcissus or the 
colchicum. 

RUBY. The oriental ruby is 
next in value, as a gem, to the 
diamond. Indeed, a ruby of 
this kind, above a certain size, is 
more valuable than a diamond 
of the same weight. The orien- 
tal ruby is a red variety of the 
sapphire ; its color is usually be- 
tween a vivid cochineal and 
crimson. The word rubies oc- 
curs several times in the English 
Bible, as Job 28: 18. Prov.3:15. 
8:11, &c. but the corresponding 
word in Hebrew means coral, 
which was much esteemed by 
the ancients. 



RUE, a well-known garden 
herb. Our Saviour reproaches 
the Pharisees with their super- 
stitious affectation of paying the 
tithe of rue, which was not in 
reality subject to the law of tithe, 
while they neglected the more es- 
sential parts of the law. Luke 
11:42. 

RUTH, a Moabitess, who, 
having returned with her mother- 
in-law Naomi to Judea, after- 
wards married Boaz, a kinsman 
of Naomi. From this marriage 
descended David, and through 
him our Saviour Jesus Christ. 

The book of Ruth contains 
this history, told in a most sim- 
ple and affecting manner. The 
object of the writer, no doubt, 
was to trace the genealogy of 
king David. At the outset, he 
says, that these events took place 
when the judges ruled in Israel — 
an intimation that they had then 
ceased to rule. At the close of 
the book the name of David is 
introduced ; which shows that it 
was not written before his day. 
This book is inserted in our Bi- 
bles after the book of Judges, as 
a sort of sequel to it. Many of 
the ancient fathers make but one 
book of Judges and Ruth. 



SABAOTH, or rather Tsaba- 
oth, a Hebrew word, signifying 
hosts or armies ; Jehovah Saba- 
oth is The Lord of Hosts ; 
whether we understand the host 
of heaven, or the angels and 
ministers of the Lord, or the 
stars and planets, which, as an 
army ranged in battle array, per- 
form the will of God ; or, lastly, 
the people of the Lord, both of 
the old and new covenants, 
which is truly a great army, of 



which God is the general and 
commander. 

SABBATH, {rest.) God, hav- 
ing created the world in six days, 
rested on the seventh, Gen. 2:2, 
3 ; that is, he ceased from pro- 
ducing new beings in this crea- 
tion ; and because he had rested 
on it, he blessed or sanctified 
it, and appointed it in a peculiar 
manner for his worship. The 
Hebrews, afterwards, in conse- 
quence of this designation, and 



SAB 



[276 ] 



SAB 



to preserve the memory of the 
creation, sanctified, by his order, 
the sabbath day, or the seventh 
day of the week, abstaining from 
all work, labor and servile em- 
ployment, and applying them- 
selves to the service of the 
Lord, to the study of his law, 
and to prayer. 

On the sabbath day, the minis- 
ters of the temple entered on 
their week ; and those who had 
attended the foregoing week, 
went out. They placed on the 
golden table new loaves of shew- 
bread, and took away the old 
ones. Lev. 24:8. Also, on this 
day were offered particular sac- 
rifices of two lambs for a burnt- 
offering, with the wine and the 
meal. The sabbath was cele- 
brated, as the other festivals, 
from evening to evening. Num. 
28:9,10. 

The first obligation of the sab- 
bath expressed in the law, is to 
sanctify it, Exod. 20:8. Deut. 
5:12: "Remember to sanctify 
the sabbath day." It is sanc- 
tified by doing good works ; 
by prayers, praises and thanks- 
givings, by public and private 
worship of God, by the study of 
his law, by justice and innocence, 
and tranquillity of mind. The 
second obligation is that of rest : 
" Thou shaft do no work on the 
sabbath." Meaning any servile 
or laborious work, that miyht fix 
the mind, and interrupt that at- 
tention which is due to God, and 
which is necessary when we pay 
acceptable worship to him. 

The obligation of devoting a 
portion of our time to God, to 
be employed in his worship and 
service, is founded on natural 
right and reason. The law had 
fixed this to the seventh day, that 
is, the sabbath, for the nation of 
the Jews. It is supposed by 
some that the apostles, to honor 



the day of our Saviour's resur- 
rection, determined it to every 
seventh day, and fixed it on the 
Sunday, that is, the first day of 
the week among the Hebrews, 
and the day dedicated to the sun 
among the pagans. The change 
of the day, however, is rather \o 
be gathered from the practice 
of the Christian church, than as 
clearly enjoined in the N. T. It 
appears that believers came to- 
gether on this day to break 
bread, that collections for the 
poor were then made, and put 
into the general treasury of the 
church ; (as we understand 1 
Cor. 16:2;) that on this day 
exhortations and discourses were 
made to the people ; and, in short, 
we have the various parts of 
public worship noted, as being 
performed on this day. It will 
follow, that we may safely imi- 
tate those examples which the 
apostles and primitive Christians 
have left us ; and whatever obli- 
gations the Jews might lie under 
to the observance of the Satur- 
day sabbath, they do not bind 
Christians ; because those obli- 
gations were national, not gen- 
eral ; and were commemorative, 
in some degree, of Israelitish 
events, in which others have no 
interest ; whereas the resurrection 
sabbath commemorates an event 
in which all Christians through- 
out the world are interested, and 
for which no equal mode of com- 
memoration can be devised. We 
have then good example and 
strong propriety in behalf of our 
observance of the Lord's day, 
as a religious festival, though 
not as a Jewish sabbath ; and 
the same principles influenced 
the Christians of early ages. 

We are informed by Eusebius, 
that from the beginning the 
Christians assembled on the first 
day of the week, called by them 



SAB 



[277] 



SAB 



the " Lord's da}'-/' for the pur- 
poses of religious worship. " to 
read the Scriptures, to preach, 
and to celebrate the Lord's sup- 
per j" and Justin Martyr ob- 
serves, " that, on the Lord's 
day, all Christians in the city, 
or country, meet together, be- 
cause that is the day of our 
Lord's resurrection, and then we 
read the writings of the apostles 
and prophets ; this being done, 
the person presiding makes an 
oration to the assembly, to ex- 
hort them to imitate and to prac- 
tise the things they have heard ; 
then we all join in prayer, and 
after that we celebrate the sac- 
rament. Then they who are 
able and willing give what they 
think proper, and what is collect- 
ed is laid up in the hands of 
the chief officer, who distrib- 
utes it to orphans and widows, 
and other necessitous Christians, 
as their wants require." See 1 
Cor. 16:2. A very honorable 
conduct and worship ! Would 
that it were more prevalent 
among us, with the spirit and 
piety of primitive Christianity ! 

The second sabbath after the 
first, Luke 6:1, should rather 
read, " the first sabbath after 
the second day of the passover." 
Of the seven days of the pass- 
over, the first was a sabbath, 
and on the second was a festival 
in which the fruits of the harvest 
were offered to God. Lev. 23: 
5,9, »fec. From this second day 
the Jews reckoned seven weeks 
or sabbaths to the feast of Pen- 
tecost. Lev. 23:15, &c. Hence 
the first week or the first sabbath 
which occurred after this second 
dav, was called the first week or 
sabbath after the second day. 

The preparation of the sabbath 
or passover was the Friday be- 
fore ; for as it was forbidden to 
make a fire, to bake bread, or to 
24 



dress victuals, on the sabbath 
day, the}' provided on the Fri- 
day every thing needful for their 
sustenance on the sabbath. 
Mark 15:42. Matt. 27:62. 
John 19:14,31,42. 

For a sabbath day's journey, 
see Journey. 

SABBATICAL YEAR was 
to be celebrated among the Jews 
from seven years to seven years, 
when the land was to rest, and 
be left without culture. Exod. 
23:10. Lev. 25:2,3, &c. They 
were then to set slaves at liberty, 
and each was to reenter on his 
inheritance that had been alien- 
ated. God appointed the obser- 
vance of the sabbatical year, to 
preserve the remembrance of the 
creation of the world ; to enforce 
the acknowledgment of his sove- 
reign authority over all things, 
particularly over the land of 
Canaan, which he had given to 
the Hebrews, by delivering up 
the fruits of their fields to the 
poor and the stranger. It was 
a kind of tribute which they 
paid for it to the Lord. Besides, 
he intended to inculcate human- 
ity on his people, by command- 
ing that they should resign to the 
slaves, to the poor, to strangers 
and to brutes, the produce of 
their fields., of their vinej'ards, 
and of their gardens. 

I. SABEANS, the inhabitants 
of the country called Seba. 
This appears to have been the 
great island or rather peninsula 
of Meroe", in northern Ethiopia, 
or Nubia, formed between the 
Nile and the Astaboras, now 
Atbara. Upon this peninsula 
lay a city of the like name ; the 
ruins of which are still visible a 
few miles north of the modern 
Shendy. Meroe" was a city of 
priests, whose origin is lost in 
the highest antiquity. The mon- 
arch was chosen by the priests 



S AB 



[ 278 ] 



SAC 



from among themselves ; and 
the government was entirely 
theocratic, being managed by 
the priests according to the ora- 
cle of Jupiter Ammon. This 
was the Seba of the Hebrews, 
according to Josephus, who men- 
tions, at the same time, that it 
was conquered by Cambyses, 
and received from him the name 
Meroe', after his sister. With 
this representation accord the 
notices of Seba and its inhabi- 
tants, in Scripture. In Gen. 10: 
7, their ancestor is said to be a 
son of Cush, the progenitor of 
the Ethiopians. In Isa. 43:3, 
and Ps. 72:10, Seba is mention- 
ed as a distant and wealthy 
country ; in the former passage, 
it is connected with Egypt and 
Ethiopia 5 and Meroe" was one 
of the most important commer- 
cial cities of interior Africa. 

II. SABEANS, the inhabi- 
tants of the country called Sheba. 
The Sheba of Scripture appears 
to be the Saba of Strabo, situat- 
ed towards the southern part of 
Arabia, at a distance from the 
coast of the Red sea, the capital 
of which was Mariaba, or Mareb. 

The queen of Sheba, who vis- 
ited Solomon, 1 K. 10:1, &c. 
2 Chr. 9:1, &c and made him 

f>resents of gold, ivory and cost- 
ly spices, was most probably the 
mistress of this region ; indeed, 
the Sabeans were celebrated, on 
account of their important com- 
merce, in these very products, 
among the Greeks also. Isa. 60: 
6. Jer. 6:20. Ezek. 27:22. 
Ps. 72:10,15. Joel 3:8. The 
tradition of this visit of the 
queen of Sheba to Solomon, has 
maintained itself among the 
Arabs, who call her Balkis, and 
affirm that she became the wife 
of Solomon. 

It would seem that the two 
names Seba and Sheba have 



often been confounded ; and 
hence Sheba has sometimes been 
referred to Ethiopia, the proper 
location of Seba. In this way 
the queen of Sheba is also often 
regarded as queen of Ethiopia, 
even by the Ethiopians them- 
selves, who also have traditions 
respecting her. 

SACK, SACK-CLOTH. 
These are pure Hebrew words, 
and have spread into almost all 
languages. Sack-cloth is a very 
coarse stuff, often of hair. In 
great calamities, in penitence, 
in trouble, they wore sack-cloth 
about their bodies. 2 Sam. 3:31. 
The prophets were often clothed 
in sack-cloth ; and generally in 
coarse clothing. The Lord bids 
Isaiah put off the sack-cloth 
from about his body, and to go 
naked. Isa. 20:2. Zechariah 
says, 13:4, that false prophets 
should no longer prophesy in 
sack-cloth, (Eng. Tr. a rough 
garment,) to deceive the simple. 

In times of joy, or on hearing 
good news, those who were clad 
in sack-cloth tore it from their 
bodies, and cast it from them. 
Ps. 30:11. 

SACKBUT,a wind instrument 
of music, like a trumpet, which 
may be lengtnened or shortened. 
Italian trombone. 

SACRIFICE was an offering 
made to God on his altar, by the 
hand of a lawful minister. Sac- 
rifice differed from oblation : in 
a sacrifice there was a real 
change or destruction of the 
thing offered ; whereas an obla- 
tion was but a simple offering or 
gift. As men have alwa} r s been 
bound to acknowledge the su- 
preme dominion of God over 
them, and over whatever belongs 
to them, and as there have al- 
ways been persons who have 
conscientiously acquitted them- 
selves of this duty, we may 



SAC 



[ 279 ] 



SAC 



affirm, that there have a ways 
been sacrifices in the world. 
Adam and his sons, Noah and 
his descendants, Abraham and 
his posterity, Job and Melchise- 
dec, before the Mosaic law, 
offered to God real sacrifices. 
That law did but settle the quali- 
ty, the number, and other cir- 
cumstances of sacrifices. Before 
that, they offered fruits of the 
earth, the fat or the milk of ani- 
mals, the fleeces of sheep, or the 
blood and the flesh of victims. 
Every one pursued his own 
mode of acknowledgment, his 
zeal, or his devotion : but among 
the Jews, the law appointed 
what they were to offer, and in 
what quantities. Before the law, 
every one was priest and min- 
ister of his own sacrifice ; at 
least he was at liberty to choose 
what priest he pleased, in offer- 
ing his victim. Generally, this 
honor belonged to the most an- 
cient, or the head of a family, to 
princes, or to men of the greatest 
virtue and integrity. But after 
Moses, this was, among the Jews, 
confined to the family of Aaron. 
The Hebrews had properly 
but three sorts of sacrifices : (1.) 
the burnt-offering or holocaust ; 
(2.) the sacrifice for sin. or sac- 
rifice of expiation ; (3.) the 
pacific sacrifice, or sacrifice of 
thanksgiving. Beside these, were 
several kinds of offerings, of 
corn, of meal, of cakes, of wine, 
of fruits 5 and one manner of 
sacrificing, which has no relation 
to any now mentioned, that is, 
the setting at liberty one of the 
two sparrows offered for the 
purification of leprous persons, 
Lev. 14:4,5, &c. also the scape- 
goat, which was taken to a dis- 
tant and desert place, where it 
was let go. Lev. 16:10,20, &c. 
These animals, thus left to them- 
selves, were esteemed victims 



of expiation, loaded with the sins 
of those who offered them. 

The holocaust was offered and 
burnt up, on the altar of burnt- 
offerings, without any reserve to 
the person who gave the victim, 
or to the priest who killed and 
sacrificed it ; only the priest had 
the skin ; for before the victims 
were offered to the Lord, their 
skins were flayed off, and their 
feet and entrails were washed. 
See Lev. 7:8. 

The sacrifice for sin, or for 
expiation, or the purification of 
a man who had fallen into any 
offence against the law, was not 
entirely consumed on the fire of 
the altar. No part of it returned 
to him who had given it, but the 
sacrificing priest had a share 
of it. 

The peace-offering was offered 
to return thanks to God for ben- 
efits 3 or to solicit favors from 
him ; or to satisfy private devo- 
tion ; or simply, for the honor 
of God. The Israelites offered 
this when they pleased ; no law 
obliged them to it. They were 
free to choose what animal they 
would, among such as were al- 
lowed to be sacrificed. No dis- 
tinction was observed of age, or 
sex, of the victim, as in the burnt 
sacrifices, and the sacrifices for 
sin. Lev. c. 3. The law only 
required that the victim should 
be without blemish. He who 
presented it came to the door of 
the tabernacle, put his hand on 
the head of the victim, and killed 
it. The priest poured out the 
blood about the altar of burnt 
sacrifices : he burnt on the fire 
of the altar the fat of the lower 
belly, that which covers the kid- 
neys, the liver and the bowels. 
And if it were a lamb, or a ram, 
he added to it the rump of the 
animal, which, in that country, is 
very fat. Before these things 



SAG 



[ 280 ] 



SAC 



were committed to the fire of the 
altar, the priest put them into 
the hands of the offerer, then 
made him lift them up on high, 
and wave them toward the four 
quarters of the world, the priest 
supporting' and directing his 
hands. The breast and the right 
shoulder of the sacrifice belonged 
to the priest that performed the 
service : and it appears, that 
both of them were put into the 
nands of him who offered them ; 
though Moses mentions only the 
breast of the animal. After this, 
all the rest of the sacrifice be- 
longed to him who presented it, 
and he might eat it with his fami- 
ly and friends, at his pleasure. 
Lev. 3:31, &c. 

The sacrifices or offerings of 
meal, or liquors, which were 
offered for sin, were in favor of 
the poorer sort, who could not 
afford to sacrifice an ox, or goat, 
or sheep. Lev. 6 : 14, &c. They 
contented themselves with offer- 
ing meal or flour, sprinkled with 
oil, with spice (or frankincense) 
over it. And the priest, taking 
a handful of this flour, with all 
the frankincense, sprinkled them 
on the fire of the altar ; and all 
the rest of the flour was his own : 
he was to eat it without leaven 
in the tabernacle, and none but 
priests were to partake of it. 
As to other offerings, fruits, wine, 
meal, wafers or cakes, or any 
thing else, the priest always cast 
a part on the altar ; the rest be- 
longed to him and the other 
priests. These offerings were 
always accompanied with salt 
and wine, but were without leav- 
en. Lev. c. 2. 

Sacrifices in whieh they set at 
liberty a bird, or a goat, were 
not properly such ; because there 
was no shedding of blood, and 
the victim remained alive. 

Sacrifices of birds were offered 



on three occasions. (1.) For sin, 
when the person offering was not 
rich enough to provide an ani- 
mal for a victim. Lev. 5:7,8. 
(2.) For purification of a woman 
after her lying-in. Lev. 12:6,7. 
When she could offer a lamb 
and a young pigeon, she gave 
both ; the lamb for a burnt-offer- 
ing, the pigeon for a sin-offering. 
But if she were not able to offer 
a lamb, she gave a pair of turtles, 
or a pair of young pigeons j one 
for a burnt-offering, the other for 
a sin-offering. (3.) They offered 
two sparrows for those who were 
purified from the leprosy j one 
was a burnt-offering, the other 
was a scape-sparrow, as above. 
Lev. 14:4, &c. 49— 51. 

For the sacrifice of the pas- 
chal lamb, see Passover. 

The perpetual sacrifice of the 
tabernacle and temple. Exod. 
29:38—40. Num. 28:3, was a 
daily offering of two lambs on 
the altar of burnt-offerings ; one 
in the morning, the other in the 
evening. They were burnt as 
holocausts, but by a small fire, 
that they might continue burning 
the longer. The lamb of the 
morning was offered about sun- 
rise, after the incense was burnt 
on the golden altar, and before 
any other sacrifice. That in the 
evening was offered between the 
two evenings, that is, at the de- 
cline of day, and before night. 
With each of these victims was 
offered half a pint of wine, half 
a pint of the purest oil, and an 
assaron, or about five pints, of 
the finest flour. 

Such were the sacrifices of 
the Hebrews ; sacrifices, indeed, 
very imperfect, and altogether 
incapable, in themselves, to pu- 
rify the soul ! Paul has described 
these and other ceremonies of 
the law, " as weak and beggarly 
elements." Gal. 4:9. They rep- 



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[ 281 ] 



SAI 



resented grace and purity, but 
they did not communicate it. 
They convinced the sinner of the 
necessity to purify himself, and 
make satisfaction to God 5 but 
they did not impart holiness to 
him. Sacrifices were only proph- 
ecies and figures of the true sac- 
rifice, the Lamb of God, which 
eminently includes all their vir- 
tues and qualities ; being at the 
same time holocaust, a sacrifice 
for sin, and a sacrifice of thanks- 
giving ; containing the whole 
substance and efficacy, of which 
the ancient sacrifices were only 
representations. The paschal 
lamb, the daily burnt-offerings, 
the offerings of flour and wine, 
and all other oblations, of what- 
ever nature, promised and rep- 
resented the death of Jesus Christ. 

The sacrifice of an humble and 
contrite heart is that which, on 
our part, constitutes the whole 
merit of what we can offer to 
God. Ps. 51 : 17. " The sacri- 
fices of God are a broken spirit ; 
a broken and a contrite heart, O 
God, thou wilt not despise." 
The Jews, without these dispo- 
sitions, could not present any 
offering agreeable to God 5 and 
he often explains himself on this 
matter in the prophets. Ps. 40 : 6. 
Isa. 1:11—14. Amos 5:21,22. 
Hos. 6:6. Joel 2: 12,13, &c. 

SADDUCEES. This name 
was applied in the time of Jesus 
to a portion or sect of the Jews, 
who were usually at variance 
with the other leading sect, viz. 
the Pharisees, but united with 
them in opposing Jesus, and in 
accomplishing his death. The 
name would seem to be derived 
from a Hebrew word signifying 
the just ; but the Talmudists 
affirm that it comes from a cer- 
tain Sadoc, or Sadducus, who 
was the founder of the sect, and 
lived about three centuries before 
24* 



the Christian era. The Saddu- 
cees disregarded all the traditions 
and unwritten laws, which the 
Pharisees prized so highly ; and 
professed to consider the Scrip- 
tures as the only source and rule 
of the Jewish religion. They 
rejected the demonology of the 
Pharisees ; denied the existence 
of angels and spirits j considered 
the soul as dying wilh the body, 
and of course admitted no future 
state of rewards and punishments. 
While, moreover, the Pharisees 
believed that all events and ac- 
tions were directed by an over- 
ruling fate or providence, the 
Sadducees considered them all 
as depending on the will and 
agency of man. The tenets of 
this sect were not, in general, so 
acceptable to the people, as 
those of the Pharisees ; yet many 
of the highest rank adopted them, 
and practised great severity of 
manners and of life. Matt. 22:23. 
Mark 12:18. Luke 20:27. Acts 
23:8. 

SAFFRON, a well-known 
flower, of a bluish color, in the 
midst of which are small yellow 
threads of a very agreeable 
smell. Solomon, Cant. 4:14, 
joins it with other aromatics ; and 
Jeremiah is supposed to speak 
of cloths of a saffron color, Lam. 
4:5. The passage, however, 
rather signifies purple or crimson ; 
in the Engl. Tr. scarlet. 

SAINT, a holy person, a 
friend of God, either on earth, 
or already removed to heaven. 
It is sometimes used of the pious 
Israelites, as Ps. 16:3. Nothing 
is more frequent in Paul than 
the name of saints given to 
Christians, Rom. 1:7. 8:27. 12: 
13. 15:25,31. 16:2, &c. But 
it is, probably, never given to 
any, after the promulgation of 
the gospel, who had not been 
baptized. In this acceptation it 



SAL 



[ 282 ] 



SAL 



continued during the early ages 
of Christianity ; nor was it ap- 
plied to individuals declared to 
be saints by any other act of the 
church, till various corruptions 
had depraved the primitive prin- 
ciples. The church of Rome 
assumes the power of making 
saints, or of beatification ; that is, 
of announcing certain departed 
spirits as objects of worship, and 
from which the faithful may so- 
licit favors— a notion worthy of 
the dark ages in which it origi- 
nated. 

SALAMIS, the chief city of 
the isle of Cyprus, visited by 
Paul and Barnabas, A. D. 44, 
when they converted Sergius 
Paulus. Acts 13:5. It was 
situated on the south-east side 
of the island, and was afterwards 
called Constantia, 

SALOME, wife of Zebedee, 
mother of James the Elder and 
John the Evangelist, one of those 
holy women who attended our 
Saviour in his journeys, and 
ministered to him. Matt. 27:56. 
She requested of Jesus, that her 
two sons, James and John, might 
sit one on his right hand, and the 
other on his left hand, when he 
should possess his kingdom. 
Mark 15:40. 16:1. 

SALT. In Syria, where there 
are salt lakes, it is natural that 
comparisons, and even proverbs, 
should be taken from tjje proper- 
ties of the article they furnish- 
ed. So we read, Matt. 5:13, 
" Salt," that i& in its genuine 
state, "is good; but, if it have 
lost its saltness, wherewith will 
ye season it V how restore it to 
any relish ? The surface of the 
salt lakes also, or the thinner crust 
of s"alt, next the edges of the 
lakes, after rains, and especially 
after long-continued rains, loses 
the saline particles, which are 
washed away and dried ofTj yet 



it retains the form and appear- 
ance of salt, like the most per- 
fect. For this reason, those who 
go to gather salt from the lakes, 
drive their horses over this worth- 
less matter, (and consequently 
trample it into mere mud and 
dirt,) in order to get nearer the 
lake, where the salt is better j 
and often they are obliged to dig 
away the surface from thence, 
to obtain the salt pure and pun- 
gent. See below. 

Salt is the symbol of wisdom : 
" Let your speech be always 
with grace, seasoned with salt." 
Col. 4: 6. And our Saviour says, 
" Have salt in yourselves, and 
have peace one with another." 
Thus we read of Attic salt, 
that is, Attic wit, or sharpness, 
mental intelligence, &c. 

Salt is also the symbol of per- 
petuity and incorruption. Thus 
they said of a covenant, " It is a 
covenant of salt forever, before 
the Lord." Num. 18:19. And 
elsewhere, " The Lord God of 
Israel gave the kingdom over 
Israel to David forever, even to 
him and to his sons, by a cove- 
nant of salt." 2 Chron. 13:5. 

Lastly, salt is the symbol of 
hospitality ; also of that fidelity 
due from servants, friends, guests 
and officers, to those who main- 
tain them, or who receive them 
at their tables. The governors 
of the provinces beyond the Eu- 
phrates, writing to king Arta- 
xerxes, tell him, " Because we 
have maintenance from the king's 
palace," &c. which, in the Chal- 
dee, is, " Because we are salted 
with the salt of the palace." Ez- 
ra 4; 14. 

Valley of Salt. This valley 
would seem to be either the 
northern part of the great valley 
El Ghor, leading south from the 
Dead sea 5 or perhaps some 
smaller valley or ravine opening 



SAL 



[ 283 ] 



SAL 



into it near the Dead sea. The 
whole of this region is strongly 
impregnated with salt, as ap- 
pears from the reports of all 
travellers. According to cap- 
tains Irby and Mangles, " a 
gravelly ravine, studded with 
bushes of acacia and other shrubs, 
conducts [from the west] to the 
great sandy plain at the southern 
end of the Dead sea. On enter- 
ing this plain, the traveller has 
on his right a continued hill, com- 
posed partly of salt and partly 
of hardened sand, running south- 
east and north-west, till, after 
proceeding a few miles, the plain 
opens to the south, bounded, at 
the distance of about eight miles, 
by a sandy cliff from sixty to 
eighty feet high, which traverses 
the valley El Ghor like a wall, 
forming a barrier to the waters 
of the lake when at their greatest 
height." On this plain, besides 
the saline appearance left by the 
retiring of the waters of the lake, 
the travellers noticed, lying on 
the ground, several large frag- 
ments of rock-salt, which led 
them to examine the hill, on the 
right of tne ravine by which they 
had descended to the plain, de- 
scribed above, as composed part- 
ly of salt and partly of hardened 
sand. They found the salt, in 
many instances, hanging from 
the cliffs, in clear perpendicular 
points, resembling icicles. They 
observed, also, strata of salt, of 
considerable thickness, having 
very little sand mixed with it, 

fenerallv in perpendicular lines, 
luring the rainy season, the tor- 
rents apparently bring down im- 
mense masses of this mineral. 
Was. then, this " gravelly ra- 
vine." perhaps, the particular 
" Valley of Salt ?" or was this 
term applied, more generally, to 
this whole plain, which exhibits 
similar characteristics ? 



Strabo mentions that to the 
southward of the Dead sea there 
are towns and cities built entirely 
of salt 5 and "although," add 
the travellers, " such an account 
seems strange, yet when we con- 
templated the scene before us, it 
did not seem incredible." The 
sea had thrown up at high-water 
mark a quantity of wood, with 
which the travellers attempted to 
make a fire, in order to bake some 
bread 5 but it was so impregnated 
with salt, that all their efforts were 
unavailing. On the southern ex- 
tremity of the eastern shore, salt 
is also deposited by the evapora- 
tion of the water of the lake. 
The travellers found several of 
the natives peeling off a solid 
layer of salt, several inches thick, 
with which they loaded their 
asses. At another point, also, 
where the water, being shallow, 
retires or evaporates rapidly, a 
considerable level is left, en- 
crusted with a salt that is but 
half dried and consolidated, ap- 
pearing like ice in the com- 
mencement of a thaw, and giv- 
ing way nearly ankle deep. All 
these appearances are surely 
sufficient to justify the appella- 
tion of Plain or Valley of Salt. 

For the Salt sea, see Sea. 

SALVATION means, strictly, 
deliverance ; and so it is used of 
temporal deliverance, victory, in 
1 Sam. 14:45. Ps. 14:7. But 
as the spiritual deliverance from 
sin and death, through the Re« 
deemer, is a far greater salvation, 
so this word has come to be used 
mostly only in this moral and 
spiritual sense: ana implies not 
only this deliverance, but also 
the consequences of it, viz. eter- 
nal life and happiness in the 
kingdom of our Lord. 2 Cor. 
7:10. Eph. 1:13. 

The Hebrews rarely use con- 
crete terms, as they are called. 



SAL 



[ 284 ] 



SAM 



but often abstract terms. Thus, 
instead of saying, God saves 
them and protects them 5 they 
say, God is their salvation. So, 
a voice of salvation, tidings of 
salvation, the rock of salvation, 
the shield of salvation, a horn of 
salvation, a word of salvation, 
&c. are equivalent to a voice de- 
claring deliverance 5 the joy that 
attends escape from a great dan- 
ger 5 a rock where any one takes 
refuge, and is in safety ; a buck- 
ler that secures from the attack 
of an enemy ; a horn or ray of 
glory, of happiness and salva- 
tion, &,c. Thus, to work great 
salvation in Israel signifies to 
deliver Israel from some immi- 
nent danger, to obtain a great 
victory over enemies. 

The Garments of Salvation, 
Isa. 61 : 10, refer to the habits of 
joy and festivity, worn on festi- 
val days, and after receiving a 
signal favor from God, as after 
deliverance from great danger. 

SALUTATION. The for- 
mula of salutation among the 
Hebrews was Shalom lekhd, i. e. 
Peace be with you, or rather, Pros- 
perity, welfare be to you. The 
same mode of expression is the 
common one among the Arabs 
to the present day : they say, 
Sdldm lekhd, which means pre- 
cisely the same thing, and is, in- 
deed, the same words. Hence 
we hear of the Arab and Turk- 
ish salams, i. e. salutations. 

The orientals have various 
ceremonies of salutation ; some- 
times they embrace and kiss 
each other ; sometimes an infe- 
rior kisses the hand or the beard 
of a superior, &c. Such a kind 
of salutation occupies much time 5 
and hence, when the prophet sent 
his servant in great haste to lay 
his staff upon the dead child, he 
forbade him to salute any one, 
or answer any salutation by the 



way. 2 K. 4:29. For a simi- 
lar reason, our Saviour forbade 
the seventy disciples to salute 
any one by the way. Luke 10 : 
4. See Jacob's salutation of 
Esau, Gen. c. 33. 

SAMARIA, a city situated 
near the middle of Palestine, and 
built by Omri, king of Israel, on a 
mountain or hill of the same name. 
It was the metropolis of the king- 
dom of Israel, i. e. of the ten 
tribes 5 and after having been 
destroyed by Shalmanezer, king 
of Assyria, and rebuilt by the in- 
habitants whom he left in the 
land, it was again destroyed by 
John Hyrcanus. The Roman 
proconsul Gabinius once more 
restored it, and called it Gabinia ; 
and it was afterwards given by 
Augustus to Herod the Great, 
who enlarged and adorned it, and 
gave it the name of Sebaste, in 
honor of Augustus. It is now 
an inconsiderable village, called 
Shemrun. 

The following is the account 
of the modern city, as given by 
Richardson : " Its situation is ex- 
tremely beautiful, asd strong by 
nature ; more so, I think, than 
Jerusalem. It stands on a fine, 
large, insulated hill, compassed 
all round by a broad, deep val- 
ley ; and, when fortified, as it is 
stated to have been by Herod, 
one would have imagined, that 
in the ancient system of warfare, 
nothing but famine would have 
reduced such a place. The val- 
ley is surrounded by four hills, 
one on each side, which are cul- 
tivated in terraces to the top, 
sown with grain and planted with 
fig and olive-trees, as is also the 
valley. The hill of Samaria, 
likewise, rises in terraces to a 
height equal to any of the adjoin- 
ing mountains. 

" The present village is small 
and poor, and, after passing the 



SAM 



[ 285 1 



SAM 



valley, the ascent to it is very 
steep j but, viewed from the sta- 
tion of our tents, is extremely in- 
teresting-, both from its natural 
situation, and from the pictu- 
resque remains of a ruined con- 
vent of good Gothic architec- 
ture. 

" Having passed the village, 
towards the middle of the first 
terrace, there is a number of col- 
umns still standing. I counted 
twelve in one row, besides seve- 
ral that stood apart, the brother- 
less remains of other rows. The 
situation is extremely delightful, 
and my guide informed me that 
they belonged to the serai or pal- 
ace. On the next terrace there 
are no remains of solid building, 
but heaps of stone and lime, and 
rubbish mixed with the soil in 
great profusion. Ascending to 
the third, or highest terrace, the 
traces of former buildings were 
not so numerous, but we enjoyed 
a delightful view of the surround- 
ing country. The eye passed 
over the deep valley that com- 
passes the hill of Sebaste, and 
rested on the mountains beyond, 
that retreated as they rose with a 
gentle slope, and met the view in 
every direction, like a book laid 
out for perusal on a writing 

SAMARITANS, the inhab- 
itants of Samaria. But in the 
N. T. this name is the appella- 
tion of a race of people who 
sprung originally from an inter- 
mixture of the ten tribes with 
Gentile nations. When the in- 
habitants of Samaria and of the 
adjacent country were carried 
away by Snalmanezer, king of 
Assyria, he sent in their place 
colonies from Babvlonia, Cuthah, 
Ava, Hamath and Sepharvaim, 
with which the Israelites who re- 
mained in the land became inter- 
mingled, and were ultimately 



amalgamated into one people. 
2 K. 17:24. An origin like this 
would of course render the na- 
tion odious to the Jews ; and the 
Samaritans further augmented 
this cause of hatred, by rejecting' 
all the sacred books of the Jews, 
except the Pentateuch. It was 
therefore in vain, that, when the 
Jews returned from captivity and 
began to rebuild Jerusalem and 
the temple, the Samaritans re- 
quested to be acknowledged as 
Jewish citizens, and to be per- 
mitted to assist in their work. 
2K. 17:26, &c. Ezra4:l,&c. 
In consequence of this refusal, 
and the subsequent state of en- 
mity, the Samaritans not only 
took occasion to calumniate the 
Jews before the Persian kings, 
Ezra 4:4. Neh. 4:1, &c. but 
also, recurring to the directions 
of Moses, Deut. 27:11,12,13, 
that on entering the promised 
land the Hebrews should offer 
sacrifices on mount Gerizim. they 
erected a temple on that moun- 
tain, and instituted sacrifices ac- 
cording to the prescriptions of 
the Mosaic law. (See Sanbal- 
lat.) From all these and other 
circumstances, the national ha- 
tred between the Samaritans and 
Jews, instead of being at all di- 
minished by time, was, on the 
contrary, fostered and augment- 
ed. 2 Mace. 6:2. Hence the 
name of Samaritan became 
among the Jews a term of re- 
proach and contempt, John 8 :48, 
and all intercourse with them 
was carefully avoided, John 4 : 9. 
The temple on mount Geri- 
zim was destroyed by Hyrcanus, 
about the year 129 B. C. but the 
Samaritans in the time of Jesus 
continued to esteem that moun- 
tain sacred, and as the proper 
place of national worship, John 
4:20,21, as is also the case with 
the small remnant of that people 



SA 



[ 286 ] 



SAM 



who exist at the present day, and 
who go three times a year from 
Naplous, the ancient Sychar, 
where they reside, to worship on 
mount Gerizim. The Samari- 
tans, like the Jews, expected a 
Messiah, John 4:25, and many 
of them became the followers of 
Jesus, and embraced the doc- 
trines of his religion. See Acts 
8:1, &c. 9:31. 15:3. 

It is well known that a small 
remnant of the Samaritans still 
exists at Naplous, the ancient 
Shechem. Great interest has 
been taken in them by the learn- 
ed of Europe ; and a correspond- 
ence has several times been in- 
stituted with them, which, how- 
ever, has never led to results of 
any great importance. It was 
commenced by Joseph Scaliger 
in 1559 ; and again, after a cen- 
tury, by several learned men in 
England, in 1675 ; and by the 
celebrated Ludolf in 1685. Of 
late years, the orientalist De 
Sacy, of Paris, has again held 
correspondence with them ; and 
has recently published all that is 
known respecting them, and all 
their letters, Paris, 1829. They 
have often been visited, of late 
years, by travellers ; and the best 
account we have of them and of 
their present circumstances, is 
from trie pen of the late Ameri- 
can missionary, the Rev. P. Fisk, 
under date of November 19, 1823. 
See Missionary Herald, 1824, p. 
310. 

SAMOS, an island of the Ar- 
chipelago, on the coast of Asia 
Minor, opposite Lydia, from 
which it is separated by a narrow 
strait. The island was devoted 
to the worship of Juno, who had 
there a magnificent temple. It 
was also celebrated for its valu- 
able potteries, and as the birth- 
place of Pythagoras. The Ro- 
mans wrote to the governor in 



favor of the Jews, in the time of 
Simon Maccabaeus. 1 Mac. 15: 23. 
Paul landed here when going to 
Jerusalem, A. D. 58. Acts 20 : 15. 

SAMOTHRAC1A, an island 
in the Egean sea, on the coast of 
Thrace, opposite the estuary of 
the river Hebrus, from which it is 
distant about thirty-two miles. It 
was anciently caiiedDardana and 
Leucania, and afterwards Sa- 
mos, and in order to distinguish 
it from the other Samos, the epi- 
thet Thracian was added, which 
passed into the name of Samo- 
thracia. The inhabitants were 
very religious, and all the myste- 
ries, especially those celebrated 
in the worship of Ceres and Pro- 
serpina, were supposed to have 
taken their origin there. Hence 
the island received the epithet of 
sacred, and was an inviolable 
asylum to all fugitives and crim- 
inals. Acts 16:11. 

SAMSON, one of the Hebrew 
judges, celebrated for his vast 
physical strength, and for ihe 
bravery and success with which 
he defended his country against 
the Philistines. It has been re- 
marked, that there is a general 
resemblance between his charac- 
ter and that of the Hercules of 
heathen mythology. Judg. c. 
13.— 16. 

SAMUEL, i. e. God hath 
heard, (see 1 Sam. 1:20,) the 
name of the celebrated Hebrew 
prophet, the son of Elkanah and 
Hannah, of the tribe of Levi. 
Having been consecrated to 
God from his birth, he received 
divine communications even in 
his childhood j and was the last 
of the Hebrew judges. By the 
direction of God, he converted 
the commonwealth of Israel into 
a kingdom, and anointed Saul as 
the first king, and afterwards 
David. He appears, also, to 
have first established schools for 



i 



SAN 



[ 287 ] 



SAN 



the education of the prophets. 
See 1 Sam. 1 :20, &c. 

The two Books of Samuel 
could not all have been written 
by him, because his death is men- 
tioned in 1 Sam. c. 25. Thus far 
it is not improbable that he was 
the author. Why his name is 

fiven to them both cannot be 
nown ; — in the Septuagint they 
are called thejirst and second books 
of Kings. (See under Kings.) 
The two books comprise the 
history of Samuel, Saul and 
David. 

SANBALLAT, chief or gov- 
ernor of the Cuthites, or Samari- 
tans, and a great enemy to the 
Jews. When Nehemiah came 
from Shushan to Jerusalem, Neh. 
2:10,19, B. C. 454, and began 
to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, 
Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem 
taunted him, and sent to inquire 
on what authority he undertook 
this enterprise; and whether it 
were not a revolt against the 
king. Nehemiah, however, pro- 
ceeded with vigor in his under- 
taking, and completed the walls 
of the city. 

Nehemiah being obliged to re- 
turn to king Artaxerxes at Shu- 
shan, Neh. 13:6, B. C. 441, in 
his absence, the high-priest Elia- 
shib married his grandson Ma- 
nasseh, son of Joiada, to a 
daughter of Sanballat, and al- 
lowed Tobiah, a kinsman of San- 
ballat, an apartment in the tem- 
ple. Nehemiah, at his return to 
Jerusalem, (the exact year of 
which is not known,) drove To- 
biah out of the temple, and 
would not suffer Manasseh, the 
high-priest's grandson, to con- 
tinue in the city, nor to perform 
the functions of the priesthood. 
Manasseh, being thus expelled, 
retired to his father-in-law, San- 
ballat, who provided him the 
means of exercising his priestly 



office on mount Gerizim. See 
Gerizim. 

When Alexander the Great 
came into Phoenicia, and invest- 
ed Tyre, Sanballat abandoned 
the interests of Darius, and went, 
at the head of 8000 men, to offer 
his service to Alexander, who 
readily received him, and gave 
him leave to erect a temple on 
mount Gerizim, where he consti- 
tuted his son-in-law Manasseh 
the high-priest. See Samari- 
tans. 

SANCTUARY. By this name 
that part of the temple of Jeru- 
salem was called, which was the 
most secret and most retired ; in 
which was the ark of the cove- 
nant ; and where none but the 
high-priest might enter, and he 
only once a year, on the day of 
solemn expiation. The same 
name was also given to the most 
sacred part of the tabernacle set 
up in ihe wilderness. See Tab- 
ernacle, and Temple. 

SANDALS. The sandals or 
shoes of the orientals were in an- 
cient times, and are still at the 
present day, merely soles ot 
hide, leather, or wood, fastened 
to the bottom of the foot by two 
straps, one of which passes 
around the great toe, on the fore 
part of the foot, and the other 
around the ankle. Niebuhr says, 
" The shoes of the Arabs, of the 
middling and lower classes, con- 
sist only of a sole, with one or 
two straps over the foot, and one 
around the ankle. These straps 
are by no means so long as those 
which painters are accustomed 
to assign to the oriental costume. 
The Arabs sometimes wear in 
their houses wooden sandals or 
slippers with high heels, which 
are common throughout the 
East. These are worn also by 
ladies of rank in Egypt and Tur- 
key." These were probably 



SAN 



[ 288 ] 



SAN 



also not unknown among the 
Hebrews. It is easy to see now, 
why the Hebrew prophets could 
speak so contemptuously of the 
value of a pair of shoes, i. e. san- 
dals. Amos 2:6. 8:6. 

The sandals of females were 
often ornamented ; and it is not 
impossible that these may have 
resembled the slippers or shoes 
of modern orientals, which cover 
also the upper part of the foot, 
and are usually made of morocco 
leather. Judith 10:4. 16:9. Ezek. 
16:10. Compare the article 
Badgers' Skins. 

It is not customary in the East 
to wear shoes or sandals in the 
houses ; hence they are always 
taken off on entering a house, 
and especially temples and all 
consecrated places. Hence 
the phrase to Loose one's shoes 
or sandals from off one's 
feet. Ex. 3:5. Deut. 25:9, &c. 
To loose and bind on the sandals 
was the business of the lowest 
servants ; and a slave, newly 
bought, commenced his service 
by loosing the sandals of his new 
master, and carrying them a cer- 
tain distance. Disciples, how- 
ever, performed this office for 
their master, and accounted it an 
honor ; but the rabbins advise, 
not to do it before strangers, lest 
they should be mistaken for ser- 
vants. Hence the expression of 
John the Baptist, that he was 
" not worthy to loose or to bear 
the sandals of Jesus." Matt. 3 : 
11. Mark 1:7. As stockings are 
not worn in the East, the feet in 
sandals become dusty and soiled ; 
accordingly, on entering a house 
and putting off the sandals, it 
was customary to wash the feet. 
This was also the business of the 
lowest servants. On visits, slaves 
presented the water} but to 
guests of distinction, the master 
of the house performed this of- 



fice. Gen. 18:4. Luke 7:44. 
Comp. John 13:4,5. The poor, 
of course, often went barefoot j 
but this was not customary 
among the rich, except as a sign 
of mourning. See under Foot, 
Washing of the Feet. 

In contracts, the seller drew off 
his sandals and gave them to the 
buyer, in confirmation of the bar- 
gain. Ruth 4:7. The loosing of 
the sandals was also a ceremony 
when a man refused to marry the 
widow of his deceased brother. 
Deut. 25:9. 

SANHEDRIM, or Beth- 
din, (house of judgment,) was a 
council of seventy-one or seven- 
ty-two senators, among the Jews, 
who determined the most impor- 
tant affairs of the nation. The 
room in which they met, accord- 
ing: to the rabbins, was a rotundo, 
half of which was built without 
the temple, and half within ; the 
latter part being that in which 
the judges sat. The nasi or 
president, who was generally the 
high-priest, sat on a throne at the 
end of the hall ; his deputy, or 
vice-president, called ab-beth- 
din, at his right hand ; and the 
sub-deputy, or hakam, at his 
left ; the other senators being 
ranged in order on each side. 
Most of the members of this 
council were priests or Levites, 
though men in private stations 
of life were not excluded. 

The authority of the sanhe- 
drim was very extensive. It de- 
cided causes brought before it 
by appeal from inferior courts; 
and even the king, the high- 
priest, the prophets, were under 
its jurisdiction. The general 
affairs of the nation were also 
brought before this assembly. 
The right of judging in capital 
cases belonged to it, until this 
was taken away by the Romans. 
— The sanhedrim was probably 



SAR 



[ 289 ] 



SAT 



the council referred to by our 
Lord, Matt. 5:22. 

SAPPHIRA, see Ananias 1. 

SAPPHIRE, a gem next in 
hardness and value to the dia- 
mond, and comprising, as varie- 
ties, all those precious stones 
known by the name of oriental 
gems, viz. the oriental ruby, ori- 
ental topaz, and oriental eme- 
rald. In general the name of 
sapphire is given to the blue va- 
riety, which is either of a deep 
indigo blue, or of various lighter 
tints, and sometimes gradually 
passes into perfectly white or 
colorless, which, when cut, may 
almost pass for a diamond. Ex. 
28:18. 39:11. Rev. 21: 19. 

SARAI, or Sarah, trie wife 
of Abraham, the daughter of his 
father by another mother. Gen. 
20: 12. When God made a cov- 
enant with Abraham he changed 
the name of Sarai, or My 
Princess, into that of Sarah, or 
Princess; and promised Abra- 
ham a son by her, which was 
fulfilled in due time. Sarah 
lived to the age of 127 years. 
She died in the valley of He- 
bron, and Abraham came to 
Beer-sheba to mourn for her, 
after which he bought a field of 
Ephron the Hittite, wherein was 
a cave hewn in the rock, called 
Machpelah, where Sarah was 
buried. Gen. 23: 9. 

SARDIS, now called Sart, a 
city of Asia Minor, formerly the 
capital of Croesus, king of the 
Lydians, is situated at the foot 
of mount Tmolus, on the north, 
having a spacious and delightful 
plain before it, watered with sev- 
eral streams that flow from the 
neighboring hill to the south- 
east, and by the Pactolus, rising 
from the same, on the east, and 
increasing with its waters the 
stream of Hermus, into which it 
runs. It is now a pitiful village J 
25 



but, for the accommodation of 
travellers, it being the road for 
the caravans that come out of 
Persia to Smyrna with silk, there 
is a large khan built in it, as is 
usual in most of these towns. 
The inhabitants are for the most 
part shepherds, who have charge 
of those numerous flocks and 
herds which feed in the plains. 

To the southward of the town 
are very considerable ruins still 
remaining, which remind us of 
what Sardis was, before earth- 
quake and the sword had caused 
those desolations which have vis- 
ited it. 

The Turks have a mosque 
here, which was formerly a Chris- 
tian church 5 at the entrance of 
which are several curious pillars 
of polished marble. Some few 
Christians live among them, 
working in gardens, or otherwise 
employed in such like drudgery. 
The church in Sardis was re- 
proached by our Saviour for its 
declension in vital religion. It 
had a name to live, but was 
really dead. Rev. c. 3. 

SARDIUS, or Sardian, a 
species of precious stone of a 
blood-red, or sometimes of a 
flesh color. It is more common- 
ly known by the name of cat 
nelian. Rev. 4 : 3. 

SARDONYX 5 as if a sardius 
united to an onyx ; a species of 
gem exhibiting the reddish color 
of the carnelian (sardian) and 
the white of the chalcedony, in- 
termingled, either in shades, or in 
alternate stripes. Rev. 21:20. 

SAREPTA, see Zare- 

PHATH. 

SARON, the same as Sha- 
ron, which see. 

SATAN signifies, properly, 
adversary, enemy ; and is so 
applied by Jesus to Peter, Matt. 
16:23. Mark 8:33. Hence it is 
used particularly of the grand 



S AU 



[ 290 ] 



SC A 



adversary of souls, i. e. the devil, 
the prince of the fallen angels. 
According to the opinions of the 
later Hebrews, he acts as the 
accuser and calumniator of men 
before God. Job 1:7,12. Zech. 
3: 1,2 5 comp. Rev. 12:10. He 
seduces them to sin, 1 Chron. 
21 : 1 5 and is the author of evil, 
both physical and moral, by 
which the human race is afflicted, 
— especially of those vicious 
propensities and wicked actions 
which are productive of so much 
misery ; and also of death itself. 
Wisd. 2:24. Tob. 3:8. Hence 
in the N. T. Satan is represented 
both as soliciting men to commit 
sin ; and as the source, the ef- 
ficient cause, of impediments 
which are thrown in the way of 
the Christian religion, or which 
are designed to diminish its effi- 
cacy in reforming the hearts and 
lives of men and inspiring them 
with the hope of future bliss. 
Matt. 4:10. John 13:27. Rom. 
16:20. See Devil. 

The Synagogue of Satan, Rev. 
2:9,13, probably denotes the un- 
believing Jews, the false zealots 
for the law of Moses, who at the 
beginning were the most eager 
persecutors of the Christians. 
They were very numerous at 
Smyrna, to which church John 
writes. 

SATYRS, wild men, or imagi- 
nary animals, half man and half 
goat, poetically introduced by 
Isaiah, 13:21. 34:14, as dancing 
among the ruins of Babylon. 
It is remarkable, that the present 
inhabitants of that country still 
believe in the existence there of 
satyrs. 

SAUL, the first king of the 
Israelites, anointed by "Samuel, 
B. C. 1091 ; and, after a life of 
various events, slain with his 
sons on mount Gilboa. He was 
succeeded by David, who was 



his son-in-law, and whom he had 
endeavored to put to death. His 
history is contained in 1 Sam. c. 
10.— 31. 

The character of Saul is that 
of a gloomy, apprehensive, mel- 
ancholy man 5 and after taking, 
without success, what remedies 
were customary, his servants, or 
physicians, (see Gen. 50:2,) find- 
ing his case beyond the reach of 
their art, thought proper to rep- 
resent it as a visitation from on 
high 5 yet to recommend the use 
of music, as a recipe whose ef- 
fects might be favorable. The 
event justified their expectations ; 
and the amusement, the sympa- 
thy, and the enjoyment of Saul, 
while his attention was engaged, 
produced an interval of disease, 
which gradually improved to con- 
valescence. Indeed he appears 
to have been a hypochondriac, 
rather than a maniac. 

Saul was also the Hebrew 
name of the apostle Paul. 

SAVIOUR is a term applied 
preeminently to our Lord Jesus 
Christ, because, as the angel ex- 
pressed it, he came to " save his 
people from their sins." Matt. 1 : 
21. He was therefore called Je- 
sus, which signifies Saviour. 

SCARLET, a color much 
prized by the ancients. Exod. 
25:4. 26:1.31,36. It is assigned 
as a merit of Saul, that he cloth- 
ed the daughters of Israel in 
scarlet. 2 Sam. 1:24. So the 
diligent and virtuous woman is 
said to clothe her household in 
scarlet. Prov. 31:21. This col- 
or was obtained from the coccus 
ilicis of Linnaeus, a small insect 
found on the leaves of a species 
of oak, the quercus cocciferus, 
in Spain and the countries on 
the eastern part of the Mediter- 
ranean, which was used by the 
ancients for dyeing a beautiful 
crimson or deep scarlet color, 



SCO 



[ 291 ] 



SCO 



and was supposed by them to be 
the berry oi' a plant or tree. It 
is the kermes of the Materia Med- 
ica. As a dye it has been su- 
perseded in modern times by the 
cochineal insect, coccus cactus, 
which gives a more brilliant but 
less durable color. 

SCHOOLMASTER is not, in 
the New Testament, the teacher 
of a school, but is put for the 
Greek pedagogue. This among 
the ancients was a person to 
whom they committed the care 
of their children, to lead them, to 
observe them, and to instruct 
them in their first rudiments. 
Thus the office of a pedagogue 
nearly answered to that of a gov- 
ernor or tutor, who constantly 
attends his pupil, teaches him, 
and forms his manners. To the 
Galatians, the apostle says, 3 : 
24,25, •' The law was our school- 
master (pedagogue) to bring us 
to Christ." It pointed out Christ 
in the Scriptures, the figures, the 
prophecies, of the O. T* but 
since we are advanced to supe- 
rior learning, and are committed 
to the tuition of the faith which 
we have embraced, we have no 
longer need of a schoolmaster, 
or pedagogue ; as such are of no 
further use to young persons 
wnen advanced to years of ma- 
turity. " But after that faith is 
come, we are no longer under a 
schoolmaster — pedagogue." 

SCORPION. This is lie 
largest and most malignant of all 
the insect tribes. It somewhat re- 
sembles the lobster in its general 
appearance, but is much more 
hideous. Those found in Europe 
seldom exceed four inches in 
length, but in the tropical cli- 
mates it is no uncommon thing to 
meet with them twelve inches 
long. There are few animals 
more formidable, and none more 
irascible, than the scorpion 3 but 



happily for mankind, they are 
equally destructive to their own 
species, as to other animals. Mau- 
pertuis put about a hundred of 
them together in the same glass j 
and they scarcely came into con- 
tact, when they began to exert 
all their rage in mutual destruc- 
tion } so that in a few days there 
remained but fourteen, which 
had killed and devoured all the 
rest. But their malignity is still 
more apparent in their cruelty 
to their offspring. He enclosed 
a female scorpion, big with young, 
in a glass vessel, and she was 
seen to devour them as fast as 
they were excluded. There was 
only one of the number that 
escaped the general destruction, 
by taking refuge on the back of 
its parent ; and this soon after 
revenged the cause of its breth- 
ren, by killing the old one in its 
turn. Such is the terrible nature of 
this insect ; and it is even assert- 
ed, that when placed in circum- 
stances of danger, from which it 
perceives no way of escape, it 
will sting itself to death. The 
passage most descriptive of the 
scorpion is Rev. 9:3 — 10, in 
which it is to be observed, that 
the sting of these creatures 
was not to produce death, but 
pain so intense that the wretched 
sufferers should seek death, ver. 
6, rather than submit to its en- 
durance. Dr. Shaw slates, that 
the sting of scorpions is not al- 
ways fatal, the malignity of 
their venom being in proportion 
to their size and complexion. 

It maybe necessary to remark 
on the contrast which our Lord 
draws between a scorpion and an 
egg, Luke 11:11,12, that the 
body of this insect is much like 
an egg; especial!}' those of the 
white kind, which is the first spe- 
cies mentioned by iElian and 
others ; and Bochart has shown 



SCO 



[ 292 ] 



SEA 



that the scorpions of Judea 
were about the size of an 

egg- 

The Jews used whips on some 
occasions, which were called, 
from the suffering they occa- 
sioned, scorpions. To these it 
is probable the haughty Re- 
hoboam alluded, when he men- 
aced the house of Israel with 
increasing their oppressions. 1 K. 
12:11. 

SCOURGE, or Whip. The 
punishment of scourging was 
very common among the Jews. 
Moses limits the number of stripes 
to forty, which may not be ex- 
ceeded. Deut. 25:3. The Jews 
afterwards, in order to avoid, in 
any case, exceeding forty, and 
thus breaking the law, were ac- 
customed to give only thirty-nine 
stripes. There were two ways 
of giving the lash; one with 
thongs or whips, made of rope- 
ends, or straps of leather ; the 
other with rods or twigs. The 
offender was stripped from his 
shoulders to his middle, and tied 
by his arms to a low pillar, that 
he might lean forward, and 
the executioner the more easily 
strike his back. Paul informs us, 
2 Cor. 11:24, that at five dif- 
ferent times he received thirty- 
nine stripes from the Jews ; 
which implies that this was a 
fixed number, not to be exceed- 
ed. The apostle also clearly 
shows, that correction with rods 
was different from that with a 
whip ; for he says, " Thrice was 
I beaten with rods." And when 
he was seized by the Jews in the 
temple, the tribune of the Roman 
soldiers ran and took him out of 
their hands ; and, desiring to 
know the reason of the tumult, he 
ordered him to be tied and 
stretched on the ground, to put 
him to the question, by beating 
him with rods. Acts 22:24,25, 



for thus the Romans commonly 
put prisoners to the question. 
The bastinado was sometimes 
given on the back, at others on 
the soles of the feet. 

SCRIBE, in the earlier He- 
brew writings, was the person 
who communicated to the people 
the commands of the king, like 
the modern secretary of state. 
2 Sam. 8:17. 20:25. In the 
later times of the O. T. especially 
after the captivity, and in the N. 
T. a scribe is a person skilled in 
the Jewish law, a teacher or in- 
terpreter of the law. So Ezra 
was " a ready scribe in the law 
of Moses. 7 ' Ezra 7:6. 1 Chr. 27 : 
32. The scribes of the N. T. 
were a class of men educated for 
the purpose of preserving and 
expounding the sacred books. 
They had the charge of transcrib- 
ing them, of interpreting the 
more difficult passages, and of 
deciding in cases which grew out 
of the ceremonial law. Their in 
fluence was of course great, and 
since many of them were mem- 
bers of the sanhedrim, we often 
find them mentioned in connec- 
tion with the elders and chief- 
priests. Matt. 2:4. 5:20.7:29. 
12:38. 20:18. 21 : 15, &c. They 
are also sometimes called law- 
yers and doctors of the law. — 
Hence scribe is also used gen- 
erally for a person distinguished 
for learning and wisdom. 1 Cor. 
1:20. 

SCRIPTURES, i. e. the 
Writings, by way of eminence. 
See Bible. 

SCYTHOPOLIS, see Beth- 

SHEAN. 

SEA. The Hebrews give the 
name of sea to any large'collec- 
tion of water ; as to the lakes of 
Tiberias and Asphaltites ; and 
also to the rivers Nile and Eu- 
phrates. Is. 11:15. 18:2. 21:1. 
Jer. 51:36,42,&c. The prinei- 



SEA 



[ 293 ] 



SEA 



pal seas mentioned in Scripture 
are the following- :— 

1. The Great Sea, i. e. the 
Mediterranean, called also the 
Western sea. Indeed the He- 
brew word for sea, meaning the 
Mediterranean, is often put for 
the ivest. 

2. The Red Sea, which lies be- 
tween Arabia on the east and 
north-east, and Abyssinia and 
Egypt on the west and south- 
west, and extends from the straits 
of Babelmandeb to Suez, a dis- 
tance of about 1400 miles. At 
the northern end it is divided into 
the two gulfs of Suez and Aka- 
ba, anciently called Sinus He- 
roopolites and Sinus JElanites, 
i. e. the gulf of Heroopolis and 
the Elanilic gulf. Between these 
gulfs lies the celebrated penin- 
sula of mount Sinai. That of 
Akaba is connected with the 
Dead sea by the great sand val- 
ley El Ghor and El Araba, de- 
scribed under the article Jor- 
dan. It is only these gulfs of 
the Red sea, that are mentioned 
in Scripture. The Israelites, in 
their exodus out of Egypt, cross- 
ed the western gulf miraculously 
near Suez, and then, after many 
years of sojourning and wander- 
ing in the deserts of the penin- 
sula and north of it, they came 
to Ezion-geber, at the extremity 
of the eastern gulf. See Ex- 
odus. 

3. The Dead Sea, Salt Sea, 
Sea of Sodom, or Sea of the. 
Plain, is the lake Asphaltites, 
which is situated in the southern 
part of Judea, and occupies the 
site of the cities of Sodom, Go- 
morrha, Admah and Zeboim. 
Its real size is not yet ascer- 
tained ; for no modern traveller 
has measured it ; and the meas- 
urements of Josephus, who found 
it seventy-two miles long, and 
eighteen broad, are still referred 

25* 



to. The waters of the Dead sea 
are clear and limpid, but un- 
commonly salt, and even bitter. 
Their specific gravity exceeds 
that of all other waters known. 
Josephus and Tacitus say that 
no fish can live in it; and ac- 
cording to the concurring testi- 
mony of several travellers, those 
carried thither by the Jordan in- 
stantly die. Maundrell, never- 
theless, states, that he found some 
shell-fish resembling oysters on 
the shore, and Pococke was in- 
formed that a monk had seen 
fish caught in the water : these 
are assertions, however, that re- 
quire further corroboration. The 
mud is black, thick and fetid, 
and no plant vegetates in the 
water, which is reputed to have 
a petrifying quality. Branches 
of trees, accidentally immersed 
in it, are speedily converted into 
stone, and the curious in Jeru- 
salem then collect them. Nei- 
ther do plants grow in the im- 
mediate vicinity of the lake, 
where every thing is dull, cheer- 
less and inanimate ; whence it 
is supposed to have derived 
the name of the Dead sea. But 
the real cause of the absence of 
animals and vegetables, is proba- 
bly owing to the saltness and acrid 
nature of the water, greatly sur- 
passing what exists in other seas. 
The earth surrounding it is deep- 
ly impregnated with the same 
saline qualities, too predominant 
to admit of vegetable life, and 
even the air is saturated with 
them. The waters are clear and 
incorruptible, as holding salt in 
solution ; nor is the presence of 
this substance equivocal, for Po- 
cocke found a thin crust of salt 
upon his face after bathing in the 
sea, and the shores where it oc- 
casionally overflows, are covered 
with a similar crust. Messrs. 
Fisk and King had their elothes 



SEA 



[ 294 ] 



SEA 



wet by the dashing- of the waves, 
and as they dried, found them 
covered with salt. There are 
mines of fossil salt in the south- 
west bank, from which specimens 
have been brought to Europe ; 
some also exist in the declivities 
of the mountains, and have pro- 
vided, from time immemorial, 
for the consumption of the Arabs 
and the city of Jerusalem. See 
Salt, Valley of. 

Great quantities of asphaltum 
appear floating on the surface of 
the sea, and are driven by the 
winds to the east and west bank, 
where it remains fixed. Ancient 
authors inform us, that the 
neighboring inhabitants were 
careful to collect it, and went out 
in boats, or used other expe- 
dients for that purpose. Sul- 
phur is likewise found on the 
edges of the Dead sea, and a 
kind of stone, or coal, called 
musca by the Arabs, which, on 
being rubbed, exhales an intol- 
erable odor, and burns like bitu- 
men. This stone, which also 
comes from the neighboring 
mountains, is black, and takes a 
fine polish. Maundrell saw 
pieces of it two feet square, in 
the convent of St. John in the 
Wilderness, carved in bas-relief, 
and polished to as great a lustre 
as black marble is capable of. 
The inhabitants of the country 
employ it in paving churches, 
mosques, courts, and other places 
of public resort. In the pol- 
ishing its disagreeable odor is 
lost. The citizens of Bethlehem 
consider it as endued with anti- 
septic virtues, and bracelets of 
it are worn by attendants on the 
sick, as an antidote against dis- 
ease. Mr. King made an ex- 
periment with this stone by 
placing it on hot coals. A 
strong stench of sulphur issued 
from it, and it soon began to 



blaze. The blaze rose four or 
five inches high, and continued 
about two minutes. 

As the lake is at certain sea- 
sons covered with a thick, dark 
mist, confined within its own 
limits, which is dissipated by the 
rajs of the sun, spectators have 
been induced to allege that black 
and sulphureous exhalations are 
constantly issuing from the water. 
They have been no less mistaken 
in supposing, that birds attempt- 
ing to fly across are struck with 
pestiferous fumes. Late and 
reputable travellers declare, that 
numerous swallows skim along 
the surface, and from thence take 
up water necessary to build their 
nests ; and Messrs. Fisk and King 
saw great numbers of birds fly- 
ing about its shores, and several 
at once flying over the water. 
No vessel or boat is found upon 
these waters, for the simple 
reason,, that there is no one there 
to build and use one. 

An uncommon love of exagge- 
ration is testified in all the older 
narratives, and in some of mod- 
ern date, respecting the nature and 
properties of the lake. Chateau- 
briand speaks of a "dismal sound 
proceeding from this lake of 
death, like the stifled clamors of 
the people ingulfed in its wa- 
ters I" that its shores produced 
fruit beautiful, but containing 
nothing but ashes ; that it bears 
upon its surface the heavier met- 
als. These, and a thousand other 
stories of a like character, have 
been perpetually repeated with 
barely any foundation of truth. 
Among other facts apparently 
unaccountable, has been ranked 
that of this lake constantly re- 
ceiving the waters of the Jordan 
without overflowing its banks, 
seeing that there is no visible out- 
let. Some have therefore con- 
jectured the possibility of a sub 



SEA 



[ 295 ] 



SEA 



terraneous communication with 
the Red sea; others are of opin- 
ion, that the daily evaporation is 
sufficient to carry off all the wa- 
ters discharged into it. See Jor- 
dan. 

A small quantity of the water 
of the Dead sea was analyzed by 
Dr. Marcet. It was perfectly 
transparent, and deposited no 
crystals on standing- in close ves- 
sels. Its taste was peculiar, bit- 
ter, saline and pungent. Solu- 
tions of silver produced from it 
a very copious precipitate, show- 
ing the presence of marine acid. 
Oxalic acid instantly discovered 
lime in the water. Solutions of 
barytes produced a cloud, show- 
ing the existence of sulphuric 
acid. The specific gravity was 
ascertained to be 1.211, which is 
somewhat less than what had 
been found by Lavoisier, being 
1.2i0, in a portion submitted to 
his examination. From different 
experiments in the analyses 
which we refer to, the result 
proved the contents of 100 grains 
ofwatertobe, 

Muriate of lime, .... 3.920 
Muriate of magnesia, . 10.246 
Muriate of soda, .... 10.3S0 
Sulphate of lime, .... 0.054 

24.530 

Whence it appears, that this wa- 
ter contains about one fourth of 
its weight of salts in a state of 
perfect dryness ; but if these 
salts be dried only at the tempe- 
rature of 180°, thry will amount 
to 41 per cent, of the water. 

4. The Sea of Tiberias, or 
of Galilee, the Lake of Gennesa- 
reth, or of Cinnereth, is so called 
from the adjacent country, or 
from some . f the principal cities 
on its shores. 1 resembles, in 
its general appearance, the lake 
of Geneva in Switzerland, though 
not so large. The Jordan passes | 



through it from north to south. 
Josephus and Pliny agree in stat- 
ing it to be about sixteen miles in 
length, and about six in breadth. 
Mr. Buckingham thus describes 
it : " The waters of this lake lie 
in a deep basin, surrounded on 
all sides with lofty hills, except- 
ing only the narrow entrance and 
outlet of the Jordan at each ex- 
treme ; for which reason, long- 
continued tempests from any one 
quarter are here unknown ; and 
this lake, like the Dead sea, 
with which it communicates, is, 
for the same reason, never vio- 
lently agitated for any great 
length of time. The same local 
features, however, render it oc- 
casionally subject to whirlwinds, 
squalls and sudden gusts from 
the hollow of the mountains, 
which, as in any other similar 
basin, are of short duration ; and 
the most furious gust is succeed- 
ed by a perfect calm. A strong 
current marks the passage of the 
Jordan through the middle of the 
lake, in its way to the Dead sea, 
where it empties itself. The ap- 
pearance of this sea from the 
town of Capernaum, which is 
situated near the upper end of 
the bank, on the western side, is 
extremely grand ; its greatest 
length runs nearly north and 
south. The barren aspect of the 
mountains on each side, and the 
total absence of wood, give, 
however, a cast of dulness to the 
picture; and this is increased to 
melancholy by the dead calm of 
its waters, and the silence which 
reigns throughout its whole 
extent, where not a boat or 
vessel of any kind is to be 
found." 

5. The Sea or Waters of Me 
rom, see Merok. 

The Brazen or Molten 
Sea, made by Solomon for the 
temple, was a vessel which stood 



SEA 



[ 296 ] 



SEC 



in the temple, and contained three 
thousand baths, according- to 
2 Chron. 4:5, or two thousand 
baths according- to 1 K. 7:26. 
Calmet supposes this may be 
reconciled by saying that the 
cup or bowl contained two thou- 



sand baths, and the foot, which 
was hollow, a thousand more. 
It stood on its foot now mention- 
ed, besides which it was sup- 
ported by twelve oxen of brass. 
The accompanying engraving is, 
of course, chiefly imaginary. 




SEAL. SEALING. The al- 
lusions and references to seals 
and sealing are very frequent in 
the sacred writings. Seals or 
signets were in use at a very 
early period ; and they were evi- 
dently of various kinds. 

The principal use of seals was 
for authentication, and they ap- 
pear to have been worn by the 
f>arties to whom they respective- 
y belonged. The seal of a 
private person was usually worn 
on his finger, or on his wrist, or 
in a bracelet, being small in size. 
The seal of a governor was worn 
by him, or carried about his per- 
son, in the most secure manner 
possible. The royal seal was 
either personal, to the king, or 
public, to the state; in other 
words, the seal of the king, and 
the seal of the crown ; the first 
the king retained ; the latter he 
delivered to the proper officer of 
state. So far, modern usages 
enable us to comprehend clearly 



the nature of this important m 
strument. 

Sometimes clay appears to 
have been used to take an im- 
pression of a seal, instead of 
wax. Job 38 : 14. 

SEBAT, the fifth month of the 
Jewish civil year ; and the elev- 
enth of the ecclesiastical year ; 
from the new moon of February 
to that of March ; or, according 
to some, corresponding to our 
January, O. S. (See Month.) 
They began in this month to 
number the years of the trees 
they planted, the fruits of which 
were esteemed impure till the 
fourth vear. Zech. 1 :7. 

SECRET, see Mystery. 

SECT, a Latin word which 
has the same signification as the 
Greek word nmresis, heresy, 
though the sound is not so offen- 
sive to us. Among the Jews, 
there were four sects, distinguish- 
ed by their practices and opin 
ions, yet united in communion 



SEL 



[297] 



SEL 



with each other, and with the 
body of their nation, viz. the 
Pharisees, the Sadducees, the 
Essenians, and the Herodians. 
Christianity was originally con- 
sidered as a new sect of Judaism ; 
hence Tertullus, accusing Paul 
before Felix, c ays, that he was 
chief of the seditious sect of the 
Nazarenes, Acts 24:5; and the 
Jews ofRome said to the apostle, 
when he arrived in this city, that 
" as to this sect, it was every 
where spoken against.' 7 Acts 
28:22. See Heresy. 

SEIR, a mountainous tract, 
stretching from the southern ex- 
tremity of theDeadsea,tothe east- 
ern gulf of the Red sea. Mount 
Hor formed part of Seir, and is 
the only part that retains its origi- 
nal name. Mount Seir is more 
particularly described under the 
article Idcmea. 

SELA, the name of a place 
mentioned in 2 Kings 14:7, 
where it is said that Amaziah, 
king of Judah, slew ten thousand 
men of Edom, in the valley of 
Salt, and took Sela by war, and 
called the name of it Joktheel. 
Sela, in Hebrew, signifies a rock, 
and answers to the Greek word 
petra; whence it has been reason- 
ably inferred that the city bearing 
the name of Petra, and which 
was the celebrated capital of 
Arabia Petrea, is the place men- 
tioned by the sacred historian. 
The ruins of this place have 
in modern times been first dis- 
covered bv Burckhardt, and at- 
test the splendor of the ancient 
city. The following is Burck- 
hardl's account : " At the dis- 
tance of a two long days' journey 
north-east from Akaba. is a rivu- 
let and valley in the Djebel She- 
ra. on the east side of the Araba, 
called Wady Mouse, This place 
is very interesting for its antiqui- 
ties and the remains of an ancient 



city, which I conjecture to be 
Petra, the capital of Arabia 
Petraea, a place which, as far as 
I know, no European traveller 
has ever visited. In the red 
sand-stone of which the valley is 
composed are upwards of two 
hundred and fifty sepulchres, en- 
tirely cut out of the rock, the 
greater part of them with Gre- 
cian ornaments. There is a 
mausoleum in the shape of a 
temple, of colossal dimensions, 
likewise cut out of the rock, with 
all its apartments, its vestibule, 
peristyle, &c. It is a most beau- 
tiful specimen of Grecian archi- 
tecture, and in perfect preserva- 
tion. There are other mausolea 
with obelisks, apparently in the 
Egyptian style, a whole amphi- 
theatre cut out of the rock, with 
the remains of a palace and of 
several temples. Upon the sum- 
mit of the mountain which closes 
the narrow valley on its western 
side, is the tomb of Haroun, or 
Aaron. It is held in great vene- 
ration by the Arabs. If I recol- 
lect right, there is a passage in 
Eusebius, in which he says that 
the tomb of Aaron was situated 
near Petra. The information of 
Pliny and Strabo, on the site of 
Petra, agree with the position of 
Wady Mousa." The place was 
afterwards visited by Messrs. 
Bankes and Legh, and captains 
Irby and Mangles, who confirm 
the above accounts. So Isa. 
16:1, and probably also Judg. 
1 :36, where, in our version, rock 
is put for Sela. 

SEL AH, a musical term. which 
occurs frequently in the Psalms, 
and is found also in Hab. 3:5,9, 
13. It usually occurs at the end 
of a period or strophe ; but some- 
times at the end only of a clause. 
This difficult word most proba- 
bly means a symphony ; or rather, 
perhaps, a pause of the song, 



SEP 



[ 298 ] 



SEP 



when the instruments strike up ; 
which, indeed, is much the same 
thing. 

SGLEUCIA, a fortified city 
of Syria, situated on the sea- 
coast, a little north of the mouth 
of the Orontes. It stood near 
mount Pierius, and was therefore 
sometimes called Pieria, and 
sometimes Seleucia by the sea, in 
order to distinguish it from other 
cities of the same name, of which 
there were not less than seven or 
eight in Syria and the vicinity. 
They were all thus named from 
Seleucus Nicator. Acts 13:4* 

SENNACHERIB, king of 
Assyria, son and successor of 
Shalmaneser, began to reign B. 
C. 710, and reigned but four 
years. Hezekiah. king of Judah, 
having shaken off the yoke of the 
Assyrians, by which Ahaz, his 
father, had suffered under Tiij- 
lath-pileser, Sennacherib march- 
ed an army against him, and 
took all the strong cities of Ju- 
dah. Hezekiah, seeing he had 
nothing left but Jerusalem, which 
he, perhaps, found it difficult to 
preserve, sent ambassadors to 
Sennacherib, then at the siege of 
Lachish, to make submission. 
Sennacherib accepted his tribute, 
but refused to depart ; and sent 
Rabshakeh with an insolent mes- 
sage to Jerusalem. Hezekiah 
entreated the Lord, who sent a 
destroying angel against the As- 
syrian army, and slew in one 
night 185,000 men. Sennache- 
rib returned with all speed to 
Nineveh, where, while he was 
paying adorations to his god 
Nisroch, in the temple, his two 
sons, Adrammelech and Share- 
zer, slew him and fled into Ar- 
menia. Esar-haddon, his son, 
reigned in his stead. 2 K. c. 18, 
19. 2 Chron. c. 32. 

SEPHARVAIM. WhenShal- 
maueser, king of Assyria, carried 



away Israel from Samaria to be- 
yond the Euphrates, he sent peo- 
ple in their stead into Palestine, 
among whom were the Sephar- 
vaim. 2 K. 17:24,31. That 
Sepharvaim was a small district 
under its own king, is apparent 
from 2 K. 19:13. lsa.37:13. It 
may, with most probability, be 
assigned to Mesopotamia ; be- 
cause it is named along with other 
places in that region ; and be 
cause Ptolemy mentions a city 
of a similar name, Sipphara, as 
the most southern of Mesopo- 
tamia. Below this city, he adds, 
the Euphrates divides itself into 
two branches, of which the east- 
ern goes to Seleucia, and the 
western to Babylon. 

SEPTUAGINT is the name 
of the most ancient Greek version 
of the Old Testament; and is so 
called because there were said 
to have been seventy translators. 
See under Alexandria. 

SEPULCHRE, a place of 
burial. The Hebrews were al- 
ways very careful about the 
burial of their dead. Many of 
their sepulchres were hewn in 
rocks 5 as that bought by Abra- 
ham for the burying of Sarah, 
Gen. 23:4,6; those of the kings 
of Judah and Israel ; and that in 
which our Saviour was laid on 
mount Calvary. Sometimes their 
graves were dug in the ground ; 
and commonly without their 
towns. Our Saviour, Matt. 23 : 
27, says, that the Pharisees were 
like whited sepulchres, which ap- 
peared fine without, but inward- 
ly were full of rottenness and 
corruption ; and Lightfoot has 
shown, that every year, on the 
fifteenth of February, the He- 
brews whitened them anew. In 
Luke 11:41, Christ compares 
the Pharisees to " graves which 
appear not, so that men walk 
over them without being aware 



SEP 



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SEP 



of it;" not knowing' that these 
places are unclean 3 so that they 
contract an involuntary impurity. 
See Burial. 

Mr. MaundrelPs description of 
the sepulchre called that of the 
kings of Judah, may be useful 
for illustrating- some passages of 
Scripture : — 

" The next place we came to 
was those famous grots called 
the sepulchres of the kings ; but 
for what reason they go by that 
name is hard to resolve; for it is 
certain none of the kings, either 



of Israel or Judah, were buried 
here, the Holy Scripture assign- 
ing other places for their sepul- 
chres ; unless it may be thought, 
perhaps, that Hezekiah was here 
interred, and that these were the 
sepulchres of the sons of Da- 
vid, mentioned 2 Chron. 32:33. 
Whoever was buried here, this is 
certain, that the place itself dis- 
covers so great an expense, both 
of labor and treasure, that we 
may well suppose it to have been 
die work of kings. You ap- 
proach to it at the east side, 




through an entrance cut out of 
the natural rock, which admits 
you into an open court of about 
forty paces square, cut down 
into the rock with which it is en- 
compassed instead of walls. On 
the south side of the court is a 
portico nine paces long and four 
broad, hewn likewise out of the 
natural rock. This has a kind 
of architrave running along its 
front, adorned with sculpture, of 
fruits and flowers, still discerni- 
ble, but by lime much defaced. 
At the end of the portico, on 
the left hand, you descend to 
the passage into the sepulchres. 



The door is now so obstructed 
with stones and rubbish, that it 
is a thing of some difficulty to 
creep through it. But within 
you arrive in a large, fair room, 
about seven or eight yards square, 
cut out of the natural rock. Its 
sides and ceiling are so exactly 
square, and its angles so just, that 
no architect, with levels and 
plummets, could build a room 
more regular. And the whole is 
so firm and entire, that it may 
be called a chamber hollowed 
out of one piece of marble. From 
this room, you pass into, I think, 
six more, one within another, all 



SER 



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SE V 



of the same fabric with the first. 
Of these the two innermost are 
deeper than the rest, having- a 
second descent of about six or 
seven steps into them. In every 
one of these rooms, except the 
first, were coffins of stone placed 
in niches in the sides of the cham- 
bers. They had been at first 
covered with handsome lids, and 
carved with garlands ; but now ■ 
most of them were broken to 
pieces, by sacrilegious hands." 

SERAPHIM denotes a class 
of angels, which encircle the 
throne of the Lord. Those de- 
scribed by Isaiah, 6:2, had each 
six wings ; with two of which he 
covered his face, with two his 
feet, and with the two others flew. 
They cried to one another, and 
said, " Holy, holy, holy, is the 
Lord of Hosts ! the whole earth 
is full of his glory I" 

SERGEANT'S, Acts 16:35, 
properly Roman lictors, public 
servants who bore a bundle of 
rods before the magistrates of 
cities and colonies as insignia of 
their office, and who executed the 
sentences which thev pronounced. 

SERGIUS PAULUS, pro- 
consul or governor of the isle of 
Cyprus, was converted by the 
ministry of Paul, A. D. 44 or 45. 
Acts 13:7. 

SERPENT. The craft and 
subtlety of this reptile are fre- 
quently spoken of in the sacred 
writings, as qualities by which 
it is particularly distinguished. 
Gen. 3:1. Matt. 10:16. Seven 
different kinds of serpents are 
supposed to be mentioned in the 
Scriptures ; but it is impossible 
to distinguish the species which 
correspond to the Hebrew names. 
For the incantation of serpents by 
music, &c. see Inchantments. 

Interpreters have largely spec- 
ulated concerning the nature of 
that serpent which tempted Eve. 



Some have thought that serpents 
originally had feet and speech ; 
but there is no probability that 
this creature was ever otherwise 
than it now is. Besides, it can- 
not be doubted, but that by the 
serpent, we are to understand 
the devil, who merely employed 
the serpent as a vehicle to se- 
duce the first woman. Gen. 3: 13. 

SERVANT. This word, in 
Scripture, generally signifies a 
slave, because, among the He- 
brews, and the neighboring na- 
tions, the greater part of the 
servants were such, belonging 
absolutely to their masters, who 
had a right to dispose of their 
persons, goods, and, in some 
cases, even of their lives. See 
Slave. 

Sometimes, however, the word 
merely denotes a man who vol- 
untarily dedicates himself to the 
service of another. Thus Joshua 
was the servant of Moses; Elisha 
of Elijah ; and Peter, Andrew, 
Philip, &c. were servants of Je- 
sus Christ. The servants of 
Pharaoh, of Saul, and of David, 
were their subjects in general ; 
and their domestics in particular. 
So the Philistines, Syrians and 
other nations were servants of 
David ; i. e. they obeyed and 
paid him tribute. The servants 
of God are those who are de- 
voted to his service and obey his 
holv word. 

SEVEN. As from the be- 
ginning this was the number of 
days in the week, so it has ever 
in Scripture a sort of emphasis 
attached to it, and is very often 
and generally used as a round 
number, or, as some would say, 
a perfect number. Clean beasts 
were taken into the ark by sevens. 
Gen. c. 7. The years of plenty 
and famine in Egypt were mark- 
ed by sevens. Gen. c. 41. With 
the Jews, not only was there a 



SHA 



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SHE 



seventh day sabbath, but every 
seventh year was a sabbath, and 
every seven times seventh year 
was a jubilee. Their great 
feasts of unleavened bread and 
of tabernacles, were observed 
for seven days ; the number of 
animals in many of their sacri- 
fices was limited to seven. The 
golden candlestick had seven 
branches. Seven priests with 
seven trumpets went around the 
walls of Jericho seven days 3 and 
seven times seven on the seventh 
day. In the Apocalypse we find 
seven churches addressed, seven 
candlesticks, seven spirits, seven 
stars, seven seals, seven trumpets, 
seven thunders, seven vials, seven 
plagues, and seven angels to pour 
them out. 

Seven is often put for any 
round or whole number, just as 
we use ten. or a dozen ; so in 
Matt. 12:45. 1 Sam. 2:5. Job 
5:19. Prov. 26:16,25. Isa. 4:1. 
Jer. 15:9. In like manner seven 
times, or sevenfold, means often, 
abundantly, completely. Gen. 4 : 
15,24. Lev. 26:24 Ps. 12:6. 
79 : 12. Matt. 18 : 21. And seven- 
ty times seven is still a higher su- 
perlative. Matt. 18:22. 

SHALLUM, son of Jabesh, 
or a native of Jabesh, who treach- 
erously killed Zechariah, king of 
Israel, and usurped his kingdom. 
He held it only one month, when 
Menahem, son of Gadi, killed 
him in Samaria. Scripture says, 
that Shallum was the executioner 
of the threatenings of the Lord 
against the house of Jehu. 2 K. 
15:10—15. B.C. 768. 

SHALMANESER. king of 
Assyria, succeeded Tiglath-pile- 
ser, and had Sennacherib for his 
successor. He ascended the 
throne about B. C. 724, and 
reigned 14 years. Scripture re- 
ports that he came into Palestine, 
subdued Samaria, and obliged 
26 



Hoshea, son of Elah, to pay him 
tribute ) but in the third year, be- 
ing wearyof this exaction, Hoshea 
combined secretly with So, king 
of Egypt, to remove the sub- 
jection. Shalmaneser brought 
an army against him, ravaged 
Samaria, besieged Hoshea in 
his capital, and notwithstanding 
his long resistance of three years, 
2 K. c. 17. 18 : 9— 12, he took the 
city, put Hoshea into bonds, and 
carried away the people beyond 
the Euphrates. He thus ruined 
the city and kingdom of Sama- 
ria, which had subsisted 254 
years, from B. C. 970 to 717. 

SHAMGAR, son of Anath, 
the third judge of Israel 5 after 
Ehud, and before Barak. Judg. 
3:31. Scripture only says that 
he defended Israel, and killed 
six hundred Philistines with an 
ox goad. 

SHARON. This name was 
almost proverbial to express a 
place of extraordinary beauty 
and fruitfulness. It was proper- 
ly the name of a district south of 
mount Carmel, along the coast 
of the Mediterranean, extending 
to Csesarea and Joppa. It was 
extremely fat and fertile. Cant. 
2:1. Isa. 33:9. 35:2. 65:10. 
In Acts 9:35 it is called Saron. 
Some have unnecessarily assum- 
ed a Sharon beyond Jordan, 
in the country of Bashan, and 
in the tribe of Gad. 1 Chron. 
5:16. 

SHEBA, Queen of, 1 K. c. 
10. 2 Chron. c. 9, called queen 
of the South, Matt. 12:42. Luke 
11:31, was most probably a 
queen of Arabia. See Sabe- 

ANS II. 

SHECHEM, Sychar, or Sv- 
chf.m, Acts 7:16, a city of Ben- 
jamin. Josh. 17:7. Jacob bought 
a field in its neighborhood, which, 
by way of overplus, he gave to 
his son Joseph, who was buried 



SHE 



[ 302 ] 



SHE 



here. Geo. 48:22. Josh. 24:32. 
In its vicinity was Jacob's well 
or fountain, at which Christ dis- 
coursed with the woman of Sa- 
maria. John 4:5. After the 
ruin of Samaria by Shalmaneser, 
Shechem became the capital of 
the Samaritans ; and Josephus 
says, it was so in the time of 
Alexander the Great. At the 
present day, it is also the seat 
of the small remnant of the Sa- 
maritans. (See Samaritans.) 
It is ten miles from Shiloh, and 
forty from Jerusalem, towards 
the north. It was called by the 
Romans Neapolis, from which 
the Arabs have made Napolose, 
or Nablous. 

The situation of the city is 
very romantic. The following 
is Dr. Jowett's notice of it in 
1823 : " It was about an hour 
after mid-day that we had our 
first view of the city of Nab- 
lous, romantically situated in a 
deep valley, between the moun- 
tains of Ebal on our left, and 
Gerizim on the right. There is 
a kind of sublime horror in the 
lofty, craggy and barren aspect 
of these two mountains, which 
seem to face each other with an 
air of defiance, especially as they 
stand contrasted with the rich 
valley beneath, where the city 
appears to be embedded on 
either side in green gardens and 
extensive olive-grounds, render- 
ed more verdant by the length- 
ened periods of shade which 
they enjoy from the mountains 
on each side. Of the two, Geri- 
zim is not wholly without culti- 
vation." 

Dr. Clarke visited this place 
some years earlier, and speaks 
of it in the following manner : 
" The view of the ancient Sy- 
chem, now called Napolose, sur- 
prised us, as we had not expect- 
ed to find a city of such magni- 



tude in the road to Jerusalem. 
It seems to be the metropolis of 
a very rich and extensive coun- 
try, abounding with provisions, 
and all the necessary articles of 
life, in much greater profusion 
than the town of Acre. There 
is nothing in the Holy Land finer 
than a view of Napolose, from 
the heights around it. As the 
traveller descends towards it 
from the hills, it appears luxu- 
riantly embosomed in the most 
delightful and fragrant bowers, 
half concealed by rich gardens, 
and by stately trees collected 
into groves, all around the bold 
and beautiful valley in which it 
stands. Trade seems to flourish 
among its inhabitants. Their 
principal employment is in mak- 
ing soap ; but the manufactures 
of the town supply a very wide- 
ly extended neighborhood, and 
they are exported to a great dis- 
tance, upon camels. In the 
morning after our arrival, we 
met caravans coming from 
Grand Cairo, and noticed others 
reposing in the large olive plan- 
tations near the gates. 

" The sacred story of events 
transacted in the fields of Sy- 
chem, from our earliest years is 
remembered with delight ; but 
with the territory before our eyes 
where those events took place, 
and in the view of objects exist- 
ing as they were described above 
three thousand years ago, the 
grateful impression kindles into 
ecstasy. Along the valley we 
beheld ' a company of Ishmael- 
ites, coming from Gilead,' Gen. 
37:25, as in the days of Reuben 
and Judah, " with their camels 
bearing spicery, and balm, and 
myrrh/ 7 who would gladly have 
purchased another Joseph of his 
brethren, and conveyed him, as 
a slave, to some Potiphar in 
Egypt. Upon the hills around, 



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[ 303 ] 



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flocks and herds were feeding, 
as of old 3 nor in the simple garb 
of the shepherds of Samaria was 
there any thing repugnant to the 
notions we may entertain of the 
appearance presented by the 
sons of Jacob. It was indeed a 
scene to abstract and to elevate 
the mind ; and, under emotions 
so called forth by every circum- 
stance of powerful coincidence, 
a single moment seemed to con- 
centrate whole ages of existence. 
" The principal object of vene- 
ration is Jacob's well, over which 
a church was formerly erected. 
This is situated at a small dis- 
tance from the town, in the road 
to Jerusalem, and has been visit- 
ed by pilgrims of all ages ; but 
particularly since the Christian 
era, as the place where our Sa- 
viour revealed himself to the 
woman of Samaria. The spot 
is so distinctly marked by the 
evangelist, and so little liable to 
uncertainty, from the circum- 
stance of Ihe well itself, and the 
features of the country, that, if 
no tradition existed for its iden- 
tity, the site of it could hardly 
be mistaken. Perhaps no Chris- 
tian scholar ever attentively read 
the fourth chapter of John, with- 
out being struck with the numer- 
ous internal evidences of truth 
which crowd upon the mind in its 
perusal. Within so small a com- 
pass it is impossible to find in 
other writings so many sources 
of reflection and of interest. In- 
dependently of its importance as 
a theological document, it con- 
centrates so much information, 
that a volume might be filled 
with the illustration it reflects on 
the history of the Jews, and on 
the geography of their country. 
All that can be gathered on these 
subjects from Josephus seems 
but as a comment to illustrate 
this chapter. The journey of 



I our Lord from Judea into Gali- 
lee ; the cause of it ; his passage 
through the territory of Samaria; 
his approach to the metropolis 
of this country; its name; his ar- 
rival at the Amorite field which 
terminates the narrow valley of 
Sychem ; the ancient custom of 
halting at a well; the female em- 
ployment of drawing water ; the 
disciples sent intothe city for food, 
by which its situation out of the 
town is obviously implied ; the 
question of the woman referring to 
existing prejudices which sepa- 
rated the Jews from the Samari- 
tans ; the depth of the well ; the 
oriental allusion contained in the 

I expression ' living water ;' the 
history of the well, and the cus- 
toms thereby illustrated ; the wor- 
ship upon mount Gerizim ; — all 
these occur within the space of 
twenty verses; and if to these be 
added, what has already been re- 
ferred to in the remainder of the 
same chapter, we shall perhaps 
consider it as a record, which, in 
the words of him who sent it, 'we 
may lift up our eyes, and lockvpon, 
for it is white already to harvest.' " 
SHEEP. Of the Syrian sheep, 
according to Dr. Russell, there 
are two varieties : the one called 
Bedouin sheep, which differ in 
no respect from the larger kinds 
of sheep among us, except that 
their tails are something longer 
and thicker; the others are these 
often mentioned by travellers on 
account of their extraordinary 
tails; and this species is by far 
the most numerous. The tail of 
one of these animals is very 
broad and large, terminating in 
a small appendage that turns 
back upon it. It is of a sub- 
stance between fat and marrow, 
and is not eaten separately, but 
mixed with the lean meat in many 
of their dishes, and also often 
used instead of butter. A com- 



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SHE 



mon sheep of this sort, without 
the head, feet, skin and entrails, 
weighs from sixty to eighty 
pounds, of which the tail itself 
is usually fifteen pounds or up- 
wards j but such as are of the 
largest breed, and have been 
fattened, will sometimes weigh 
above one hundred and fifty 
pounds, and the tail, alone, fifty 3 
a thing to some scarcely credi- 
ble. To preserve the tails from 
being torn by the bushes, &c. 
they fix a piece of thin board to 
the under part, where it is not 
covered with thick wool 5 and 
some have small wheels to facili- 
tate the dragging of this board 
after them ; whence, with a little 
exaggeration, the story of hav- 
ing carts to carry their tails. 

The sheep or lamb was the 
common sacrifice under the Mo- 
saic law ; and it is to be remark- 
ed, that when the divine legisla- 
tor speaks of this victim, he 
never omits to appoint, that the 
rump or tail be laid whole on 
the fire of the altar. The reason 
for this is seen in the account 
just given from Dr. Russell ; 
from which it appears that this 
was the most delicate part of the 
animal, and therefore the most 
proper to be presented in sacri- 
fice to Jehovah. 

The sheep-folds, among the 
Israelites, appear to have been 
generally open houses, or enclo- 
sures walled round, to guard 
the sheep from beasts of prey by 
night, and the scorching heat of 
noon. John 10:1 — 5 is a curious 
passage, in reference to the sub- 
ject of this article, and deserves 
attention. See Shepherd. 

SHEKEL. The shekel was 
properly and only a weight, 
which it has been attempted to 
fix at ninety-six Paris grains, or 
also at nine pennyweights three 
grains Troy. It was used es- 



pecially in weighing uncoined 
gold and silver. Gen. 23 : 15,16. 
In such cases the word shekel is 
often omitted in the Hebrew, as 
in Gen. 20:16. 37:28, where our 
translators have supplied the 
word pieces, but improperly, be- 
cause coined money was not 
then known. (See Money.) Be- 
tween the sacred shekel, Ex. 30: 
15, and the shekel after the 
king's weight, 2 Sam. 14:26, 
there would seem to have been 
a difference j but this difference 
cannot now be determined. The 
first coin which bore the name of 
shekel, was struck after the exile, 
in the time of the Maccabees, 1 
Mac. 15 : 6, and bore the inscription 
shekel of Israel. The value was 
about fifty cents ; and it is the 
coin mentioned in the N. T. Matt. 
26:15, etc. where our translators 
have rendered it by pieces of sil- 
ver. 

The shekel of gold was half 
the weight of the shekel of silver 5 
and was worth eighteen shillings 
and three-pence sterling, or about 
four dollars. The " shekel of the 
sanctuary" has been supposed 
by some to have been double the 
common shekel 3 but this wants 
proof. 

SHEM, the second son of 
Noah. Gen. 6:10. Noah pro- 
nounced blessings on him 5 from 
him descended the Jews, and 
through them the Messiah. He 
had five sons, who peopled the 
finest provinces of the East. The 
languages of these nations are 
still called the Shemitish lan- 
guages, including the Hebrew, 
Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, Ethi- 
opic, <fcc. 

SHEMINITH, in the titles of 
Ps. 6, 12, and in 1 Chr. 15:21. 
It means properly octave, and 
seems to have been not an in- 
strument, but a part in music 5 
perhaps the lowest. 



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[ 305 ] 



SHI 



SHENIR, see Hermon. 

SHEPHERD, or Pastor. 
Abel was a keeper of sheep, 
Gen. 4:2, as were the greater 
number of the ancient patriarchs. 
When men began to multiply, 
and to follow different employ- 
ments, Jabel, son of Lamech, 
was acknowledged as father, 
that is, founder, of shepherds 
and nomads. Gen. 4:20. 

God sometimes takes the name 
of Shepherd of Israel, Jer. 31: 
10. Ps. 80:1; and kings, both 
in Scripture and ancient writers, 
are distinguished by the title of 
shepherds of the people. The 
prophets often inveigh against 
the shepherds of Israel, against 
the kings who feed themselves 
and neglect their flocks ; who 
distress, ill-treat, seduce and 
lead them astray. Ezek. 34:10. 
In like manner Christ, as the 
Messiah, is often called a shep- 
herd, and also takes on himself 
the title of the good shepherd, 
who gives his life for his sheep. 
John 10: 11,14,15. Paul calls him 
the great shepherd of the sheep, 
Heb. 13:20, and Peter gives him 
the appellation of prince of shep- 
herds, 1 Pet. 5:4. 

In the passage John 10 : 1 1 , &c . 
our Saviour says, the good shep- 
herd lays down his life for his 
sheep ; that he knows them, and 
they know him ; that they hear 
his voice, and follow him ; that 
he goes before them ; that no 
one shall force them out of his 
hands, and that he calls them by 
their name. These, however, 
being all incidents taken from 
the customs of the country, are 
by no means so striking to us as 
they must have been to those 
who heard our Lord, and who 
every day witnessed such meth- 
ods of conducting this domesti- 
cated animal. The hireling, or 
bad shepherd, forsakes the sheep, 
26* 



and the thief enters not by the 
doorof the sheep-fold, but climbs 
in another way. See Sheep. 

SHESHACH, a poetical name 
for Babylon, signifying house or 
court of the prince. Jer. 51 :41. 

SHEW-BREAD, see Bread. 

SHIBBOLETH. In a war 
between the Ephraimites and 
the men of Gilead under Jeph- 
thah, the former were discomfit- 
ed and fled towards the fords of 
the Jordan. The Gil-eadites took 
possession of all these fords, 
and when an Ephraimite who 
had escaped, came to the river 
side, and desired to pass over, 
they asked him if he were not 
an Ephraimite. If he said, No, 
the} bade him pronounce shib- 
boleth ; but he pronouncing it 
sibboleth, according to the dia- 
lect of the Ephraimites, they 
killed him. In this way there 
fell 42,000 Ephraimites. Judg. 
c. 12. This incident should not 
be passed over without observ- 
ing, that it affords proof of dia- 
lectical variations among the 
tribes of the same nation, and 
speaking the same language, in 
those early days. There can 
be no wonder, therefore, if we 
find in later ages the same word 
written different ways, according 
to the pronunciation of different 
tribes. That this continued, is 
evident from the peculiarities of 
the Galilean dialect, by which 
Peter was discovered to be of 
that district. 

The term shibboleth signifies 
an ear of grain, and also stream. 
In this cas«, it is probably to be 
taken in the latter sense 5 as the 
Ephraimites would thus be un- 
derstood to ask permission to 
pass over the Jordan. 

SHIELD, a piece of defensive 
armor. God is often called the 
shield of his people, Gen. 15:1. 
Ps. 5:12, as are also princes 



SHI 



[ 306 ] 



SHI 



and great men. 2 Sam. 1:21. 
See Armor. 

SHIGGAION, Ps. 7, title, 
and Shigionoth, Hab. 3:1 ; 
probably song, or song of praise ; 
perhaps some particular species 
of ode. 

I. SHILOH. This term is 
used, Gen. 49 : 10, to denote the 
Messiah, the coming of whom 
Jacob foretells in these words : 
" The sceptre shall not depart 
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from 
between his feet, until Shiloh 
come, and unto him shall the 
gathering of the people be." It 
must be admitted, however, that 
the proper signification of the 
word is not well ascertained. 
Some translate, " The sceptre 
shall not depart from Judah till 
he comes to whom it belongs." 
Others, till the coming of the 
peace-maker, or of prosperity. 

II. SHILOH, a famous city 
of Ephraim, about ten or twelve 
miles south of ShecRem. Here 
Joshua assembled the people, to 
make the second distribution of 
the Land of Promise, and here 
the tabernacle of the Lord was 
set up, when they were settled 
in the country. Josh. 18:1. 19: 
51. The ark and the taberna- 
cle continued at Shiloh, from B. 
C. 1440 to B. C. 1112, when it 
was taken by the Philistines, un- 
der the administration of the 
high-priest Eli. At Shiloh Sam- 
uel began to prophesy, 1 Sam. 4: 
l,and here the prophet Ahij ah 
dwelt. 1 K. 14:2. 

SHINAR, a province of Baby- 
lonia, generally supposed to be 
the plain between the rivers 
Euphrates and Tigris. Gen. 10 : 
10. Isa. 11:11. Zech. 5:11. 
See Mesopotamia. 

SHIP. The ships of the an- 
cients were very imperfect in 
comparison with modern ones ; 
as indeed was the case with navi- 



gation in general. Even in St. 
Paul's time, vessels passing from 
Palestine to Italy frequently win- 
tered on the way ! Acts 27 : 12. 
28:11. The ancient ships were 
in general very small j and many 
of them had oars, as well as 
sails. The Phoenicians, and es- 
pecially Tyre and Sidon, were 
celebrated for their ships, as ap- 
pears from Ezekiel's description, 
c. 27. For the ships of Tarshish, 
see Tarshish. 

SHISHAK, a king of Egypt, 
who declared war against Reho- 
boam, king of Judah, in the fifth 
year of his reign. He entered 
Judea with an innumerable mul- 
titude of people out of Egypt, 
the countries of Lubim, of Su- 
chim, and of Cush, captured the 
strongest places in the country, 
and carried away from Jerusa- 
lem the treasures of the Lord's 
house, and of the king's palace, 
as well as the golden bucklers 
of Solomon. Jeroboam having 
secured the friendship of Shi- 
shak, his territories were not in- 
vaded. 2Chron.c. 12. 1 K. 14: 
25.26. See Pharaoh. 

SHITTAH, and SHITTIM, 
a valuable kind of wood, of 
which Moses made the greater 
part of the tables, altars and 
planks belonging to the taberna- 
cle. Jerome says, " The shit- 
tim wood grows in the deserts 
of Arabia; it is like whitethorn 
in its color and leaves, but not 
in its size, for the tree is so large, 
that it affords very long planks. 
The wood is hard, tough, smooth, 
without knots, and extremely 
beautiful ; so that the rich and 
curious make screws of it for 
their presses. It does not grow 
in cultivated places, nor in any 
other places of the Roman em- 
pire, but only in the deserts of 
Arabia." From this description, 
it is thought he means the black 



s n u 



[307] 



SID 



acacia, winch is found in the 
deserts of Arabia, and the wood 
of which is very common about 
mount Sinai, and the mountains 
which border on the Red sea, 
and is so hard and solid as to be 
almost incorruptible. 

SHIBMAH, see Sibmah. 

SHOES, see Sandals. 

SHRINE, see Diana. 

SHUNExM, a city of Issachar. 
Josh. 19:18. The Philistines en- 
camped at Shunem, in the great 
field or plain of Esdraelon, 1 Sam. 
28 : 4 ; and Saul encamped at Gil- 
boa. Eusebius places Shunem 
five miles south of Tabor. 

I. SHUSHAN, Ps. 60, title ; 
or Shoshannim, Ps. 45, 69, 
titles ; the name of a musical in- 
strument. The word signifies a 
My, or lilies ; and if the instru- 
ment were so named from its 
similarity to this flower, we might 
understand the cymbal. 

II. SHUSHAN, the capital 
city of E!am, or Persia, Dan. 
8:2, on the river Ulai. It was 
the winter residence of the Per- 
sian kings, after Cyrus. Here 
Daniel had the vision of the ram 
and he-goat, in the third year of 
Belshazzar. Dan. c. 8. Nehe- 
miah was also at Shushan, when 
he obtained from Artaxerxes per- 
mission to return into Judea, and 
to repair the walis of Jerusalem. 
Neh. 1:1. 

The present Shouster, the 
capital of Khuzistan, is generally 
believed to be the ancient Susa ; 
but Mr. Kinneir rather thinks the 
ruins about thirty-five miles west 
of Shousier are those of that 
ancient residence of royalty, 
" stretching not less, perhaps, 
than twelve miles from one ex- 
tremity to the other. They oc- 
cupy an immense space between 
the rivers Kerah and Abzal ; 
and ; like the ruins of Ctesiphon, 



Babylon and Kufa, consist of hil- 
locks of earth and rubbish, cover- 
ed with broken pieces of brick 
and colored tile. The largest is 
a mile in circumference, and 
nearly one hundred feet in 
height 5 another, not cjuite so 
high, is double the circuit. They 
are formed of clay and pieces of 
tile, with irregular layers of 
brick and mortar, five or six feet 
in thickness, to serve, as it should 
seem, as a kind of prop to the mass. 
Large blocks of marble, cov- 
ered with hieroglyphics, are not 
unfrequently here discovered by 
the Arabs, when diggingin search 
of hidden treasure ; and at the 
foot of the most elevated of the 
pyramids (ruins) stands the tomb 
of Daniel, a small and apparent- 
ly a modern building, erected on 
the spot where the relics of that 
prophet are believed to rest." 
Major Rennell coincides in the 
opinion that these ruins repre- 
sent the ancient Susa. 

SIBMAH, or Shibmah, a 
citv of Reuben. Numb. 32:38. 
Josh. 13:19. Isaiah, 16:8,9, 
speaks of the vines of Sibmah, 
which were cut down by the en- 
emies of the Moabites ; for that 
people had taken the city of Sib- 
mah, Jer. 48:32, and other cities 
of Reuben, after this tribe had 
been carried into captivity by 
Tiglath-pileser. 1 Chron. 5:26. 
2 K. 15:29. Jerome says that 
between Heshbon and Sibmah 
there was hardly the distance of 
500 paces. 

SICHEM, see Shechem. 

SIDON, or Zidon, now called 
Saide, is a celebrated city of 
Phoenicia, on the Mediterranean 
sea, north of Tyre and Sarepta. 
It is one of the most ancient 
cities in the world, Gen. 49:13, 
ani is believed to have been 
founded by Sidon, the eldest son 



SIL 



[ 308 ] 



SIL 



of Canaan. In the time of Ho- 
mer, the Sidonians were eminent 
for their trade and commerce, 
their wealth and prosperity. 
Upon the division of Canaan 
among- the tribes by Joshua, 
Sidon fell to the lot of Asher, 
Josh. 19:28 3 but that tribe never 
succeeded in obtaining' posses- 
sion. Judg. 1:31. The Sidoni- 
ans continued long under their 
own government and kings, 
though sometimes tributary to 
the kings of Tyre. They were 
subdued, successively, by the 
Babylonians, Egyptians, Seleu- 
cidae and Romans, the latter of 
whom deprived them of their 
freedom. Many of the inhabit- 
ants of Sidon became followers 
of our Saviour, Mark 3:8, and 
there was a Christian church 
there, when Paul visited it on 
his voyage to Rome. Acts 27:3. 
It is at present, like most of the 
other Turkish towns in Syria, 
dirty and full of ruins, though 
there is a considerable trade 
carried on there. Its present 
population is estimated at from 
8000 to 10,000. 

SIGNET, a ring for sealing. 
See Ring, and Seal. 

SIHON, king of the Amorites, 
on refusing passage to the He- 
brews, and coining to attack 
them, was himself slain, his army 
routed, and his dominions dis- 
tributed among Israel. Num. 
21 : 21 —24. Deut. 2 : 26, &c. 

SIHOR, a river, by some 
supposed to be the Nile; but 
more probably the little river in 
the south of Judah. (See Josh. 
13:3, and Egypt, River of.) 
But in Is 23 : 3, and Jer. 2:18, 
this name must necessarily be 
understood of the Nile. 

SILAS, Acts 15:22, and SIL- 
VANUS, 2 Cor. 1 : 19, the former 
name being a contraction of the 



latter; one of the chief men 
among the first disciples, and 
supposed by some to have been 
of the number of the seventy. 
On occasion of a dispute at An- 
tiocli, on the observance of the 
legal ceremonies, Paul and Bar- 
nabas were chosen to go to Je- 
rusalem, to advise with the 
apostles ; and they returned with 
Judas and Silas. Silas joined 
himself to Paul ; and after Paul 
and Barnabas had separated, 
Acts 15:37—41, A. D. 51, he 
accompanied Paul to visit the 
churches of Syria and Cilicia, 
and the towns and provinces of 
Lycaonia, Phrygia, Galatia and 
Macedonia, &c. 

SILK is mentioned in the 
O. T. once in Prov. 31:22, 
where it should be purple, as in 
many other places. But in 
Ezek. 16 : 10,13, it is the proper 
silk that is meant ; i. e. according 
to the Hebrew, picked silk, or 
silk drawn out. Pliny says that 
silk was brought from Eastern 
Asia to Greece, in robes which 
were only half silk, and was then 
ravelled or picked out, and made 
up again into garments of entire 
silk. In the N. T. it occurs 
Rev. 18:12. 

SILOAM, or Siloah, a foun- 
tain under the walls of Jerusa- 
lem, on the east, between the 
city and the brook Kidron. It 
is, perhaps, the same as En-rogel, 
or the fuller's fountain. Josh. 
15:7. 2 Sam. 17:17. IK. 1:9. 
Josephus often speaks of the 
waters of Siloam, and says, that 
when Nebuchadnezzar besieged 
Jerusalem, they increased ; and 
that the same happened when 
Titus besieged the city. Isaiah, 
8:6, intimates, that the waters 
of Siloam flowed gently and 
without noise. 

The following description of 



SIM 



[ 309 ] 



SIM 



the fountain of Siloam is from 
the journal of Messrs. Fisk and 
King, under date of April 28, 
1823: "Near the south-east 
corner of the city, at the loot of 
Zion and Moriah, is the pool of 
Siloah, (see Neh. 3:15,) whose 
waters flow with gentle murmur 
from under- the holy mountain 
of Zion, or rather from under 
Ophel, having- Zion on the west, 
and Moriah on the north. The 
very fountain issues from a rock, 
twenty or thirty feet below the 
surface of the ground, to which 
we descended by two flights of 
steps. Here it flows out without 
a single murmur, and appears 
clear as crystal. From this place 
it winds its way several rods 
under the mountain, then makes 
its appearance with gentle gur- 
gling, and, forming a beautiful rill, 
takes its way down into the val- 
ley, towards the south-east. We 
drank of" the water, both at the 
fountain and from the stream. 
and found it soft, of a sweetish 
taste, and pleasant. The foun- 
tain is called in Scripture the 
' Pool of Siloam.' It was to 
this that the blind man went, and 
washed, and came seeing. John 
9:7 — 11." Missionary Herald, 
1824, p. 66. See Jerusalem. 

SILVANUS, see Silas. 

SILVER, one of the precious 
metals, and the one most com- 
monly used as coin among all 
nations,. The ancient Hebrews 
weighed it out instead of having 
coins. In the times of the N. T. 
there were coins. See Shekel, 
and Money. 

SIMEON, the name of several 
persons in the O. T. and N. T. 

1. Simeon, one of the twelve 
patriarchs, the son of Jacob and 
Leah. Gen. 29 : 33. The tribes of 
Simeon and Levi were scattered, 
and dispersed in Israel, in con- 
formity with the prediction of 



Jacob. Gen. 49:5. Levi had 
no compact lot, or portion ; and 
Simeon received for his portion 
only a district dismembered from 
the tribe of Judah, with some 
other lands they overran in the 
mountains of Seir, and in the 
desert of Gedor. 1 Chron. 4:24, 
39,42. The portion of Simeon 
was west and south of that of 
Judah ; having the tribe of Dan 
and the Philistines north, the 
Mediterranean west, and Arabia 
Petrea south. Josh. 19:1 — 9. 

2. Simeon, a pious old man at 
Jerusalem, full of the Holy Spirit, 
who was expecting the redemp- 
tion of Israel. Luke 2:25, &,c. 
It had been revealed to him, that 
he should not die before he had 
seen the Christ of the Lord ; and 
he therefore came into the tem- 
ple, prompted by inspiration, 
just at the time when Joseph and 
Mary presented our Saviour 
there, in obedience to the law. 
Simeon took the child in his arms, 
gave thanks to God, and blessed 
Joseph and Mary. We know 
nothing further concerning him. 

3. Simeon, surnamed Niger, 
or the Black, Acts 13:1, was 
among the prophets and teachers 
of the Christian church at Anti- 
och. Some think he was Simon 
the Cyrenian 3 but there is no 
proof of this. 

4. The apostle Peter is also 
called Simeon in Acts 15:14, but 
elsewhere Simon. 

SIMON is the name of several 
persons in the Bible. 

1. Simon Peter, one of the 
twelve apostles. See Peter. 

2. Simon the Canaanite, or 
Zelotes, one of the twelve apos- 
tles. See Zelotes. 

3. Simon, a brother of the 
apostles Jude and James the 
Less, and of course a kinsman 
of Jesus. Matt. 13:55. Mark 
6:3. He is by some supposed 



SIN 



[310] 



SIN 



to be the same with the preced- 
ing 1 Simon Zelotes. 

4. Simon of Cijrene. who was 
compelled to aid in bearing 1 the 
cross of Jesus. Matt. 27 : 32. 

5. Simon, a Pharisee who in- 
vited Jesus to dinner at his house. 
Luke 7:36,40. 

6. Simon the Leper, i. e. who 
had been a leper, of Bethany, 
with whom also Jesus supped. 
Matt. 26:6. Mark 14 : 3. Comp. 
John 12:1, &c. 

7. Simon the Tanner, who 
dwelt at Joppa, and in whose 
house Peter lodged. Acts 9:43. 
10:6,17,32. 

8. Simon the Magician, or 
Sorcerer, of Samaria. Acts 
8:9,13. See Sorcerer. 

I. SIN is any thought, word, de- 
sire, action, or omission of action, 
contrary to the law of God, or 
defective when compared with it. 
Sin is also sometimes put for 
the sacrifice of expiation, the 
sin-offering, described in Lev. 
4:3,25,29. So, Rom. 8:3, and 
also in 2 Cor. 5:21, Paul says 
that God was pleased that Jesus, 
who knew no sin, should be our 
victim of expiation : " For he 
hath made him to be sin [a sin- 
offering'] for us, who knew no 
sin 5 that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in him.' 7 

The sin against the Holy 
Ghost is differently explained 
by the fathers and interpreters. 
Athanasius seems to have been 
the nearest to the truth. He 
thinks this sin was chargeable 
on the Pharisees, because they 
maliciously imputed the works 
of Christ to the power of the 
devil, though they could not but 
be convinced in their own minds, 
that they were effected by a 
good spirit. This also involved 
a denial of the divinity of the 
Son, which was clearly proved 
by his works, works performed 



by the divine power of the Holy 
Spirit. 

II. SIN is also the proper name 
of several places. 

1. Sin, or Zin, deserts south of 
the Holy Land, in Arabia Petrea. 
Scripture distinguishes two des- 
erts of Sin, one being written 
Sin, the other Tzin. The for- 
mer was near Egypt, on the 
coast of the Red sea. Ex. 16:1. 
17: 1. The latter is also south of 
Palestine, but toward the Dead 
sea. Deut. 32:51. Num. 13:21. 
27:14. 34:3. Josh. 15:3. 

2. Sin, Ezek. 30: 15,16, the city 
Pelusium, in Egypt, the eastern- 
most city of that kingdom, situ- 
ated among marshes, and now 
inundated by the Mediterranean. 

3. Sin, or Sinim, Isa. 49 : 12, 
is most probably China, with 
which the ancient Hebrews and 
other orientals seem to have 
been acquainted. 

SINAI, a mountain, or moun- 
tain range, in Arabia Petrea, in 
the peninsula formed by the 
two arms of the Red sea, and 
rendered memorable as the spot 
where the law was given to 
Israel through Moses. Exod. 
c. 19, &c. As this mountain 
has been almost unknown in 
modern times, until recently, and 
is of such importance in Scrip- 
ture history, we shall enter into 
some details respecting it. 

The upper region of Sinai 
forms an irregular circle of thirty 
or forty miles in diameter, pos- 
sessing numerous sources of 
water, a temperate climate, and 
a soil capable of supporting an- 
imal and vegetable nature. This, 
therefore, was the part of the 
peninsula best adapted to the 
residence of nearly a year, dur- 
ing which the Israelites were 
numbered, and received their 
laws from the Most High. This 
tract is thus described by Burck- 



SIN 



[ 311 ] 



SIN 



hardt. " The upper nucleus of 
Sinai, composed almost entirely 
of granite, forms a rocky wilder- 
ness of an irregular circular 
shape, intersected by many nar- 
row valleys, and from thirty to 
forty miles in diameter. It con- 
tains the highest mountains of 
the peninsula, whose shagged 
and pointed peaks, and steep 
and shattered sides, render it 
clearly distinguishable from all 
the rest of the country in view. 
It is upon this highest region of 
the peninsula, that the fertile val- 
leys are found which produce 
fruit-trees ; they are principally 
to the west and south-west of 
the convent, at three or four 
hours' distance. Water, too, is 
always found in plenty in this 
district ; on which account it is 
the place of refuge of all the 
Bedouins, when the low country 
is parched up. I think it prob- 
able, that this upper country or 
wilderness is, exclusively, the 
desert of Sinai so often men- 
tioned in the account of the wan- 
derings of the Israelites." In 
approaching this elevated region 
from the north-west, Burckhardt 
writes, May 1st, "We now ap- 
proached the central summits of 
mount Sinai, which we had had 
in view for several days. Ab- 
rupt cliffs of granite, from six to 
eight hundred feet in height, 
whose surface is blackened by 
the sun, surround the avenues 
leading to the elevated region 
to which the name of Sinai is 
specifically applied. These cliffs 
enclose the holy mountain on 
three sides, leaving the east and 
north-east sides only, towards 
the gulf of Akaba. more open to 
the view. At the end of three 
hours, we entered these cliffs by 
a narrow defile about forty feet 
in breadth, with perpendicular 
granite roeks on both sides. 



The ground is covered with sand 
and pebbles, brought down by 
the torrent which rushes from 
the upper region in the winter 
time." 

The general approach to Sinai 
from the same quarter is thus 
described by Mr. Came : " A 
few hours more, and we got sight 
of the mountains round Sinai. 
Their appearance was magnifi- 
cent. When we drew near, and 
emerged out of a deep pass, the 
scenery was infinitely striking ; 
and on the right extended a vast 
range of mountains, as far as the 
eye could reach, from the vicinity 
of Sinai down to Tor, on the 
gulf of Suez. They were per- 
fectly bare, but of grand and 
singular form. We nad hoped 
to reach the convent by daylight, 
but the moon had risen some 
time, when we entered the 
mouth of a narrow pass, where 
our conductors advised us to 
dismount. A gentle yet perpet- 
ual ascent led on, mile after 
mile, up this mournful valley, 
whose aspect was terrific, yet 
ever varying. It was not above 
200 yards in width, and the 
mountains rose to an immense 
height on each side. The road 
wound at their feet along the 
edge of a precipice, and amidst 
masses of rock that had fallen 
from above. It was a toilsome 
path, generally over stones 
placed like steps, probably by 
the Arabs ; and the moonlight 
was of little service to us in this 
deep valley, as it only rested on 
the frowning summits above. 
Where is mount Sinai ? was the 
inquiry of every one. The 
Arabs pointed before to Gebel 
Mousa, the mount of Moses, as 
it is called ; but we could not 
distinguish it. Again and again, 
point after point was turned, and 
we saw but the same stern 



SIN 



[312] 



SIN 



scenery. But what had the beau- 
ty and softness of nature to do 
here ? Mount Sinai required an 
approach like this, where all 
seemed to proclaim the land of 
miracles, and to have been visit- 
ed by the terrors of the Lord. 
The scenes, as you gazed around, 
had an unearthly character, suit- 
ed to the sound of the fearful 
trumpet, that was once heard 
there. We entered at last on 
the more open valley, about half 
a mile wide, and drew near this 
famous mountain. Sinai is not 
so lofty as some of the mountains 
around it ; and in its form there 
is nothing- graceful or peculiar, 
to distinguish it from others. 
Near midnight, we reached the 
convent." 

Riippell, in travelling from 
Akaba to the convent, approach- 
ed Sinai from the north-north- 
east, through the Wadys Sa- 
fran and Salaka. " The naked- 
ness of the landscape is fright- 
fully mournful. In the distance 
lay before us a lofty chain of 
mountains ; and three summits 
lift their heads above the whole 
chain. That in the middle, di- 
rectly before us south, is Gebel 
Mousa, or Sinai ; the south-west- 
ern is St. Catharine, the Horeb 
of some. We penetrated into 
this chain from the north ; very 
soon we turned towards the east ; 
all is here of perpendicular and 
ragged granite formation. After 
some hours, we reached the walls 
of the convent of St. Catharine, 
situated in a very narrow valley 
or chasm of the mountains, which 
extends from north-west to south- 
east. One chief object of my 
visit here was to determine the 
geographical position of the con- 
vent by means of lunar observa- 
tions ; but the mountains around 
the convent, especially to the 
south and west, are so lofty and 



perpendicular, that the moon 
was visible on\y for a very short 
time 5 and never at the same 
time with the sun or planets." 

" The convent is situated/' 
according to Burckhardt, " in a 
valley so narrow, that one part 
of the building stands on the side 
of the [south] western mountain, 
[Gebel Mousa,] while a space 
of twenty paces only is left be- 
tween its walls and the eastern 
mountain. The valley is open 
to the north, from whence ap- 
proaches the road from Cairo ; 
to the south, close beyond the 
convent, it is shut up by a third 
mountain, less steep than the 
others, over which passes the 
road to Sherm. The convent is 
an irregular quadrangle of about 
one hundred and thirty paces, 
enclosed by high and solid walls, 
built with blocks of granite, and 
fortified by several small towers. 
The convent contains eight or 
ten small court-yards, some of 
which are neatly laid out in beds 
of flowers and vegetables ; a few 
date-trees and cypresses also 
grow there, and great numbers 
of vines." " In the convent are 
two deep and copious wells of 
spring water. A pleasant gar- 
den adjoins the building, into 
which there is a subterraneous 
passage ; the soil is stony ; but 
in this climate, wherever water 
is plenty, the very rocks will 
produce vegetation. The fruit 
is of the finest quality." Accord- 
ing to tradition, the convent dates 
from the fourth century, when 
the empress Helena is" said to 
have built a church here j but 
the present building was erected 
by the emperor Justinian, in the 
sixth century. 

Directly behind the convent, 
towards the south-west, rises 
Gebel Mousa. or the proper 
Sinai ; the path to the summit of 



SIN 



[313] 



SI N 



which begins to ascend imme- 
diately behind the walls of the 
convent. At the end of three 
quarters of an hour's steep as- 
cent is a small plain, on which is 
a large building called the con- 
vent of St. Elias, formerly in- 
habited, but now abandoned. 
" According to the Koran and 
the Moslem traditions, it was in 
this part of the mountain, which 
is now called Djebel Oreb, or 
Horeb, that Moses communi- 
cated with the Lord." Is not 
this, perhaps, the real Horeb, 
which, indeed, seems in the 
Scriptures to be synonymous 
with Sinai ? From hence a still 
steeper ascent of half an hour 
leads to the summit of Djebel 
Mousa. The view from this 
summit is very grand. The sum- 
mit itself is a plain of about sixty 
paces in circumference. Rttp- 
pell estimates the height of Sinai 
at about 6000 feet ; Dr. Ehren- 
berg at 8400 feet. To the west- 
south-west of Sinai, lies mount 
St. Catharine, separated from 
the former by a narrow valley, 
in which is situated a deserted 
convent, called El Erbayin, or 
the convent of the Forty. The 
eastern side of mount St. Catha- 
rine is noted for its excellent 
pasturage ; herbs sprout up ev- 
ery where between the rocks, 
and, as many of them are odorif- 
erous, the scent, early in the 
morning, when the dew falls, is 
delicious. A slow ascent of two 
hours brought Burckhardt to the 
top of the mountain, " which, 
like the Djebel Mousa, termi- 
nates in a sharp point. Its high- 
est part consists of a single im- 
mense block of granite, whose 
surface is so smooth, that it is 
very difficult to ascend it. Lux- 
uriant vegetation reaches up to 
this rock." This mountain is 
higher than that of Moses : the 
27 



view from its summit is of the 
same kind, only much more ex- 
tensive, than from the top of Sinai ; 
it commands a view of some parts 
of the two gulfs of Akaba and 
Suez, It is in this valley, be- 
tween the two mountains, where 
the convent El Erbayin stands, 
that the site of Rephidim has 
been fixed by tradition ; about 
twenty minutes' walk northward 
from this convent is shown the 
rock out of which water is said to 
have issued. The valley is now 
called El Ledja, is very narrow, 
and extremely stony ; and at for- 
ty minutes' walk north-eastward 
from El Erbayin, it opens into 
the broader valley, which leads 
south-eastward to the convent of 
St. Catharine. At this point, i. e. 
on the northern side of Sinai, the 
valley has considerable width, 
and constitutes, according to Mr. 
Came, a plain capable of con- 
taining a large number of people. 
He remarks, " From the summit 
of Sinai you see only innumera- 
ble ranges of rocky mountains. 
One generally places, in imagi- 
nation, around Sinai, extensive 
plains or sandy deserts, where 
the camp of the hosts was placed, 
where the families of Israel stood 
at the doors of their tents, and 
the line was drawn round the 
mountain, which no one might 
break through on pain of death. 
But it is not thus. Save the val- 
ley by which we approached 
Sinai, about half a mile wide and 
a few miles in length, and a 
small plain we afterwards passed 
through, [just above mentioned,] 
there appear to be few open 
places around the mount." He 
says, farther on, " We had not 
the opportunity of making the 
tour of the whole of the region 
of Sinai 5 yet we traversed three 
sides of the mountain, [the east, 
west, and north,] and found it 



SIO 



[314] 



SLA 



every where shut in by narrow 
ravines, except on the north, in 
which direction we had first ap- 
proached it. Here there is, as be- 
fore observed, a valley of some 
extent, and a small plain, in the 
midst of which is a rocky hill. 
These appear to have been the 
only places in which the Israelites 
could havestood before the mount ; 
because on the fourth [or south] 
side, though unvisited, we could 
observe from the summit, were 
only glens or small rocky valleys, 
as on the east and west." 

Such is the most graphic ac- 
count which the writer has been 
able to compile, from the ac- 
counts of travellers, of that cele- 
brated region of which the sum- 
mit Djebel Mousa is the centre ; 
and which has now for centuries 
been supposed to be the Sinai of 
the Scriptures, and the scene of 
the awful communications be- 
tween God and his covenant 
people of old, in the giving of 
the law. It must not, however, 
be denied, that the identity of 
this mountain rests upon tradi- 
tion, strengthened indeed by its 
geographical position and sev- 
eral other circumstances. Com- 
pare the article Exodus. 

I. SION, a name given, Deut. 
4:48, to one of the elevations of 
the mountain-ridge called Her- 
man, which see. 

II. SION, the name of the 
south-westernmost of the hills on 
which the city of Jerusalem was 
built, and on which the citadel 
of the Jebusites stood when Da- 
vid took possession of it, and 
transferred his court thither from 
Hebron. Hence it is frequently 
called " the city of David ;" and 
from his having deposited the 
ark here, it is also frequently 
called "the holy hill." When 
Dr. Richardson visited this spot, 
one part of it supported a crop 



of barley, and another was un- 
dergoing the labor of the plough, 
in which circumstance we have 
another remarkable instance of 
the fulfilment of prophecy : — 
" Therefore shall Zion for your 
sakes be ploughed as a field, and 
Jerusalem shall become heaps." 
Mic. 3:12. See Jerusalem. 

SIMON, see Hermon. 

SIS ERA, a general in the 
army of Jabin, king of Hazor, 
was sent by his master against 
Barak and Deborah, who occu- 
pied mount Tabor with an army. 
Being defeated, he fled on foot, 
and was ingloriously slain by 
Jael. Judg. c. 4.5. See Jael. 

SISTER. In the style of the 
Hebrews, sister has equal lati- 
tude with brother. It is used, not 
only for a sister by natural rela- 
tion, from the same father and 
mother,- but also for a sister by 
the same father only, or by the 
same mother only ; or for any 
near female relative. Matt. 13:56. 
Mark 6-3. See Brother. 

SLAVES. Moses notices two 
or three sorts of slaves among 
the Hebrews, who had foreign 
slaves, obtained by capture, by 
purchase, or born in the house. 
Over these, masters had an en- 
tire authority ; they might sell 
them, exchange them, punish 
them, judge them, and even put 
them to death, without public 
process. In which the Hebrews 
followed the rules common to 
other nations. 

A Hebrew might fall into slave- 
ry in several ways : (1.) If re- 
duced to extreme poverty, he 
might sell himself. Lev. 25:39. 
(2.) A father might sell his chil- 
dren as slaves. Exod. 21 :7. (3.) 
Insolvent debtors might be de- 
livered to their creditors as slaves. 
2 K. 4 : 1 (4. ) Thieves not able 
to make restitution for their thefts, 
or the value, were sold for the ben- 



SNO 



[315] 



SOD 



efit of the sufferers. Exod. 22 : 3. 
(5.) They might be taken pris- 
oners in war. (6.) They might 
be stolen, and afterwards sold 
for slaves, as Joseph was sold 
by his brethren. (7.) A Hebrew 
slave redeemed from a Gentile 
by one of his brethren, might be 
sold by him to another Israelite. 
Compare Servant. 

SLIME, Gen. 11:3, a bitumi- 
nous production, procured from 
pits in the earth, out of which 
it issues, often in considerable 
quantities. Slime-pits were pits 
yielding bitumen. 

SMYRNA, a celebrated Ioni- 
an city, situated at the head of a 
deep gulf on the western coast 
of Asia Minor. It was one of 
the richest and most powerful 
cities of that region, and was fre- 
quented by great numbers of 
Jews. It is still a commercial 
city, and is called by the Turks 
Ismir. The population is usual- 
ly stated at 130,000, as follows :— 

Turks, 70,000 

Greeks, 30,000 

Armenians, 15,000 

Jews, 10,000 

Franks,&c 5,000 



130,000 



A church was early establish- 
ed in Smyrna, which is addressed 
as one of the seven churches of 
Asia. Rev. 1:11. 2:8. 

SNOW, from its whiteness, 
forms a frequent object of com- 
parison in Scripture. Exod. 4:6. 
Num. 12:10. 2 K. 5:27. The 
expression in Prov. 25:13, " As 
the cold of snow in the time of 
harvest, so is a faithful messen- 
ger to them who send him ; for 
he refresheth the soul of his 
masters," seems to refer to the 
cooling effect of snow on the 
wines drank in the East ; or to 
what in Italy is termed alfresco, 
that is, snow put into water to cool 



it, previous to its being drank, 
which is esteemed extremely 
refreshing. This removes the 
apparent contradiction of this 
passage with c. 26 : 1. As snow, 
that is, a fall of snow, in summer, 
is unnatural and ill-timed, so 
honor is not seemly for a fool ; 
but it is quite out of character, 
out of season. 

SO, king of Egypt, made an 
alliance with Hoshea, king of 
Israel, and promised him assist- 
ance, yet gave none, nor pre- 
vented Shalmaneser, king of 
Assyria, from taking Samaria, 
and subverting the kingdom. 2 
K. 17:4. See Pharaoh. 

SOAP, or Fuller's Soap, 
named, in Hebrew, boritk, sig- 
nifying the cleanser, is by some 
supposed to be a salt, extracted 
from the earth, called by the 
Arabs bora. Others suppose 
it rather to be a vegetable. The 
ancients certainly employed vege- 
tables, and the salt extracted 
from them, for the purpose of 
washing linen. The kali, or baril- 
la, is called, in the London Phar- 
macopoeia, natron ; and there 
seems to be sufficient reason to 
consider it as the ZwM-plant of 
Jeremiah, 2: 22 j at least, it is the 
best known to us of those plants 
which possess the property of 
cleansing, either by themselves 
or their salts. In its wild state, 
it rises about a foot in height ; 
the leaves are long, narrow and 
prickly, the flowers whitish or 
rose-colored. It is found on the 
sea-shore, and is considered as a 
sea-weed. The best, burned 
into a hard mass of salt, comes 
from Alicant in Spain. Com- 
bined with fat, it forms soap. Jer. 
2:22. Mai. 3:2. 

SODOM, one of the cities of 
the plain, and for some time 
the dwelling-place of Lot. Gen. 
13:10,12,13. Its crimes, how- 



SOP 



[316] 



sou 



ever, were so enormous, that 
God destroyed it by fire from 
heaven, with three neighboring 
cities, Gomorrha, Zeboim and 
Admah, which were as wicked 
as itself. Gen. c. 19. The plain 
in which they stood was pleasant 
and fruitful, like an earthly para- 
dise, but it was first burned, and 
afterwards overflowed by the wa- 
ters of the Jordan, which formed 
the present Dead sea, or lake of 
Sodom. The prophets, in de- 
nouncing woes upon other coun- 
tries, mention the destruction of 
Sodom and Gomorrha, or allude 
to it, and intimate thatthese places 
shall be desert, and dried up, and 
uninhabited, Jer. 49: 18. 50:4-0 ; 
that they shall be covered with 
briers and brambles, a land of salt 
and sulphur, where can be neither 
planting nor sowing, Deut. 29 : 
23. Amos 4:11. Throughout 
Scripture, the ruin of Sodom and 
Gomorrha is represented as a 
most signal effect of God's anger. 
See Sea, Dead, and Jordan. 

SOLOMON, the son and suc- 
cessor of David, celebrated for 
his immense riches and for the 
extent of his kingdom, but still 
more for his wisdom and sagaci- 
ty. He executed David's plan 
for building a temple, which he 
erected with the utmost magnifi- 
cence. In his old age, he fell 
away into idolatry. His history 
is found in 1 K. c. 1—11. 2 Chr. 
c. 1—9. 

The Writings of Solomon are 
generally understood to include 
the books of Proverbs, Ecclesi- 
astes and Canticles, though it is 
by no means certain that He was 
the author of them all. See these 
articles. 

For the Song of Solomon, see 
Canticles 

SOOTHSAYER, see Sor- 
cerer. 

SOPATER, see Sosipater. 



SORCERER, one who prac- 
tised sorcery, and nearly or quite 
synonymous with magician, sooth- 
sayer, wizard, &c. This was a 
class of persons who dealt in in- 
cantations and divinations, and 
boasted of a power, in conse- 
quence of their deep science and 
by means of certain rites, to 
evoke the spirits of the dead 
from their gloomy abodes, and 
compel them to disclose infor- 
mation on subjects beyond the 
reach of the human powers. 
They pretended also, that, by 
means of certain herbs and in- 
cantations, they were able to ex- 
pel evil demons. Acts 13:6,8. 
Those persons also who devoted 
themselves to the general studies 
above mentioned, often abused 
their knowledge and deceived 
the common people, by pretend- 
ing to foretell the destinies of 
men from the motions and appear- 
ances of the planets and stars, 
and to cure certain diseases by 
repeating certain phrases, &c. 
Of this class appears to have 
been Simon the sorcerer, men- 
tioned Acts 8:9,11. Females 
who practised such arts were 
called sorceresses, witches, &,c. 
See Divination, Inchant- 
ments, and Magic. 

SOSIPATER, or, contracted, 
Sopater, a disciple of Berea, 
whom Paul calls his kinsman. 
Acts 20:4. Rom. 16:21. 

SOSTHENES, the chief of 
the synagogue of Corinth, who 
was beaten by the Gentiles, 
when the Jews carried Paul be- 
fore Gallio, the proconsul. Acts 
18:17. 1 Cor. 1:1. 

SOUL. The ancients sup- 
posed the soul, or rather the 
animating principle of life, to 
reside in the breath, and that it 
departed from the body with the 
breath. Hence the Hebrew and 
Greek words which, when they 



SPA 



[317] 



SPI 



refer to man, in our Bibles are 
translated soul, are usually ren- 
dered life or breath, when they 
refer to animals. Sometimes, 
however, the word soul refers also 
to the life of man, as Gen. 2:7. 

But, beside this spirit, which 
is the principle of animal life, 
common to men and brutes, and 
which is dispersed after death, 
there is in man a spiritual, rea- 
sonable and immortal soul, the 
origin of our thoughts, desires 
and reasoning's, which distin- 
guishes us from the brute crea- 
tion, and in which chiefly consists 
our resemblance to God. Gen. 
1:26. This must be spiritual, 
because it thinks ; it must be im- 
mortal, because it is spiritual. 
And though Scripture ascribes 
both to man and beast a spirit or 
life, it allows to man alone the 
privilege of understanding, the 
knowledge of God, wisdom, im- 
mortality, hope of future happi- 
ness, and of eternal life. It 
threatens men, only, with punish- 
ment in another life, and with 
the pains of hell. 

The immortality of the soul is 
a fundamental doctrine of re- 
vealed religion. The ancient 
patriarchs lived and died per- 
suaded of this truth ; and it was 
in the hope of another life that 
they received the promises. 
But it is only under the gospel, 
that " life and immortality" are 
fully brought to light, and that 
the worth of immortal souls can 
be fully appreciated. To save 
the souls of men, Christ has freely 
devoted himself to death. How 
then does it become us to labor, 
and toil, and strive, in our re- 
spective spheres, to promote the 
great work for which a Saviour 
bled and died ! 

SPAIN comprehended, in an- 
cient usage, the modern king- 
doms of Spain and Portugal, i. e. 
27* 



the whole Spanish peninsula. In 
the time of Paul, it was subject 
to the Romans, and was fre- 
quented by many Jews. In 
Rom. 15:24,28, Paul expresses 
his intention of visiting Spain ; 
but there is no good evidence 
that he was ever permitted to 
fulfil his purpose. 

SPARROW, a small bird, the 
passer domesticus, or fringilla 
domestica, of the naturalists, with 
quill and tail feathers brown, and 
its body gray and black, resem- 
bling the small chirping-bird of 
America. It is a general inhab- 
itant of Europe, Asia and Afri- 
ca ; is bold and familiar in its 
habits ; and frequents populous 
places. It builds under the eaves 
of houses, and in similar situa- 
tions 3 feeds on seeds, fruits and 
insects ; and lays five or six eggs 
of a pale ash color, with brown 
spots. A sparrow is, of course, 
a thing of comparatively little 
value j and it is, therefore, a 
striking exemplification of God's 
providence, to say that he watch- 
es even over the sparrow's fall. 
Matt. 10:29. 

SPIDER, a well-known in- 
sect, remarkable for the thread 
which it spins, and with which it 
forms a web of curious texture, 
but so frail that it is exposed to be 
broken and destroyed by the 
slightest accident. To the slen- 
derness of this filmy workman- 
ship Job compares the hope of 
the wicked, 8:14. In Prov. 
30:28, it is said in our version, 
that " the spider taketh hold 
with her hands, and is in kings' 
palaces." But the Hebrew em- 
ploys here a different word, 
which signifies, according to the 
best interpreters, a species of 
poisonous newt, or lizard. 

SPIKENARD, the andropo- 
gon nardus of Linnaeus, is a 
plant belonging to the order of 



SPI 



[318] 



SPI 



gramina or grasses, and is of 
different species. In India, 
whence the best sort comes, it 
grows as common grass, in large 
tufls close to each other, in gen- 
eral from three to tour ieet in 
length. So strong is its aroma, 
which resides principally in the 
husky roots, that, when trodden 
upon, or otherwise bruised, the 
air is filled with its fragrance. 
Dr. Blane, who planted some of 
the roots in his garden, at Luck- 
now, states, that in the rainy 
season it shot up spikes about six 
feet high. 

This plant was highly valued 
among the ancients, both as an 
article of luxury, and as a medi- 
cine. The unguentum nardinum, 
or ointment of nard, was the fa- 
vorite perfume used at the an- 
cient baths and feasts; and it 
appears from a passage in Hor- 
ace, that it was so valuable, that 
so much of it as could be con- 
tained in a small box of precious 
stone was considered a sort of 
equivalent for a large vessel of 
wine; and as a handsome quota 
for a guest to contribute to an en- 
tertainment, according to the cus- 
tom of antiquity. 

This leads us to notice the 
narrative of the evangelist, of 
" a woman having an alabaster 
box of ointment of spikenard, 
very precious ; and she brake the 
box and poured it on his [Christ's] 
head." Mark 14:3. In verse 5, 
this is said to have been worth 
more than three hundred pence ; 
(denarii, see Penny ;) and John 
mentions "a. pound of ointment 
of spikenard, very costhj~—lhe 
house was filled with the odor of 
the ointment ; — it was worth three 
hundred pence. John 12:3. As 
this evangelist has determined 
the quantity, a pound, — and the 
lowest value (for Mark says more) 
was nearly forty dollars, we may 



safely suppose that this was not a 
Syrian production, or made from 
any fragrant grass growing in the 
neighboring districts ; but was of 
the true Indian spikenard, " very 
cosily. 77 See Alabaster. 

SPIRIT is a word employed 
in various senses in Scripture. 
(1.) For the Holy Spirit, the 
third person of the Holy Trinity, 
who inspired the prophets, who 
animates good men, pours his 
unction into our hearts, imparts 
to us life and comfort ; and in 
whose name we are baptized, as 
well as in that of the Father and 
the Son. When the adjective 
holy is applied to the term spirit, 
we should always understand it 
as here explained ; but there are 
many places where it must be 
taken in this sense, although the 
term holy is omitted. (2.) Breath, 
respiration, animal life, common 
to men and animals : this G'od 
has given, and this he recalls 
when he takes away life. Ecc. 
3 : 21. (3.) The rational soul 
which animates us, and preserves 
its being after the death of the 
body. That spiritual, reasoning 
and choosing substance, which is 
capable of eternal happiness. 
See Soul. (4.) An angel, a 
demon, a soul separate from the 
body. It is said, Acts 23:8, 
that the Sadducees denied the 
existence of angels and spirits. 
Christ, appearing to his disciples, 
said to them, Luke 24 : 39, 
" Handle me, and see ; for a 
spirit hath not flesh and bones, 
as ye see me have. 77 (5.) Spirit 
is sometimes taken for the dispo- 
sition of the mind or intellect. 
So, a spirit of jealousy, a spirit 
of fornication, a spirit of prayer, 
a spirit of infirmity, a spirit of 
wisdom and understanding, a 
spirit of fear of the Lord, &c. 
Hos. 4:12. Zech. 12:10. Luke 
13:11. Isa. 11:2. 



SPI 



[319] 



STA 



The Spirit of Christ, which an- 
imates true Christians, the chil- 
dren of God, and distinguishes 
them from the children of dark- 
ness, who are animated by the 
spirit of the world, is the gift of 
grace, of adoption, the Holy 
Spirit poured into our hearts, 
which emboldens us to call God 
" My Father, my Father." Rom. 
8:5. Those wtio are influenced 
by this spirit " have crucified the 
flesh, with its affections and lusts." 
Distinguishing or discerning 
of Spirits was a gift of God, 
which consisted in discerning 
whether a man were really in- 
spired by the Spirit of God, or 
was a false prophet, an impostor, 
who only followed the impulse of 
his own spirit, or of Satan. 
Paul speaks, 1 Cor. 12:10, of 
the discerning of spirits, as be- 
ing among the miraculous gifts 
granted by God to the faithful, at 
the first settlement of Christianity. 
To quench the Spirit, 1 Thess. 
5:19, is a metaphorical expres- 
sion easily understood. The 
Spirit may be quenched, by 
forcing, as it were, that divine 
agent to withdraw from us, by 
irregularity of manners, vanity, 
avarice, negligence, or other sins 
contrary to charity, truth, peace, 
and his other gifts and qualifi- 
cations. 

We grieve the Spirit of God, 
by withstanding his holy inspira- 
tions, the motions of his grace ; 
or by living in a lukewarm and 
incautious manner ; by despising 
his gifts, or neglecting them 5 by 
abusing his favors, either out of 
vanity, curiosity or indifference. 
In a contrary sense, 2 Tim. 1 : 
6, we stir up the Spirit of God 
which is in us, by the practice of 
virtue, by our compliance with 
his inspirations, by fervor in his 
service, by renewing- our grati- 
tude, &c. 



STACHYS, a disciple of 
Paul, by whom he is honorably 
mentioned, Rom. 16:9; but we 
know no particulars of his life 
that can be relied upon. 

STACTE, a drug, which was 
one of the four ingredients com- 
posing the sacred perfume, Exod. 
30 : 34,35. It is understood to be 
the purest kind of myrrh ; and as 
the Heb. properly signifies a 
drop, it would seem to refer to 
myrrh as distilling, dropping - , 
from the tree, of its own accord, 
without incision. So Pliny, 
speaking- of the trees whence 
myrrh is produced, says, "Be- 
fore an'y incision is made, they 
exude of their own accord what 
is called stacte, to which no kind 
of myrrh is preferable." 

STAR. Under the name of 
stars, the Hebrews comprehend- 
ed all constellations, planets and 
heavenly bodies 3 all luminaries, 
except the sun and moon. The 
psalmist, to exalt the power and 
omniscience of God, says, " He 
numbers the stars, and calls them 
by their names." Ps. 147:4. He 
is described as a king taking a 
review of his army, and knowing 
the name of every one of his 
soldiers. To express a very ex- 
traordinary increase and multi- 
plication, Scripture uses the 
similitude of the stars of heaven, 
or of the sands of the sea. Gen. 
15:5. 22:17. 26:4. Exod. 32 : 
13, &c. In times of disgrace 
and public calamity, it is said 
the stars withhold their light 
that they are covered with dark 
ness ; that they fall from heaven, 
and disappear. These figurative 
and emphatic expressions, which 
refer to the governing powers of 
nations, are only weakened and 
enervated by being explained. 

The beauty and splendor that 
men observed in the stars ; the 
great advantages they derived 



STO 



[ 320 ] 



STO 



from them ; the wonderful order 
apparent in their courses ; the 
influence ascribed to their re- 
turns, in the production and pres- 
ervation of animals, fruits, plants 
and minerals, have induced al- 
most all natives to impute to 
them life, knowledge, power, and 
to pay them a sovereign worship 
and adoration. See Idola- 
try. 

STEPHANAS, a Christian of 
Corinth, whose family Paul bap- 
tized 3 probably about A. D. 52. 
1 Cor. 1:16. He was forward 
in the service of the church, and 
came to Paul at Ephesus. 1 Cor. 
16:15,17. 

STEPHEN, the first among 
the deacons of the church of Je- 
rusalem, "a man full of faith 
and of the Holy Ghost," Acts 
6 : 5, and the first Christian 
martyr. His defence and mar- 
tyrdom are narrated in Acts, c. 7. 
STOICS, a sect of heathen 
philosophers, so named from the 
Greek word, signifying- porch, 
or portico, because Zeno, its 
founder, held his school in a 
porch of the city of Athens. 
They placed the supreme happi- 
ness of man in living agreeabty 
to nature and reason ; affecting 
the same stiffness, patience, apa- 
thy, austerity and insensibilitj-, 
as the Pharisees, whom they 
much resembled. They were 
in great repute at Athens when 
Paul visited that city. Acts 
17:18. 
STONE, see Corner-Stone. 
STONING was a punishment 
much in use among the He- 
brews, and the rabbins reckon all 
crimes as being subject to it, 
which the law condemns to 
death, without expressing the 
particular mode. They say, that 
when a man was condemned to 
death, he was led out of the city 
to the place of execution, and 



there exhorted to acknowledge 
and confess his fault. He was 
then stoned in one of two ways ; 
either stones were thrown upon 
him till he died, or he was thrown 
headlong down a steep place, 
and a large stone rolled upon his 
body. To the latter mode it is 
supposed there is a reference in 
Matt. 21:44. So also in Luke 
4:29, where compare Naza- 
reth. 

STORK, called in Hebrew, 
the kind, the good, probably be- 
cause of the tenderness which it 
is said to manifest towards its 
parents ; never, as is reported, 
forsaking them, but feeding and 
defending them in their decrepi- 
tude. The stork is a bird of 
passage, Jer. 8:7, "The stork 
in the heavens knoweth her ap- 
pointed times ; and the turtle, and 
the crane, and the swallow, ob- 
serve the time of their coming." 
Moses places it among unclean 
birds. Lev. 11:19. Deut. 14:18. 
The psalmist says, 104:17, "As 
for the stork, the fir-trees are her 
house." In the climate of Eu- 
rope, she commonly builds her 
nest on some high tower, or on 
the top of a house ; but in Pales- 
tine, where the coverings of the 
houses are flat, she builds in high 
trees. Profane authors speak 
much of the filial piety of the 
stork, and its gratitude to its 
parents. 

The stork has the beak and 
legs long and red ; it feeds on 
serpents, frogs and insects. Its 
plumage would be wholly white, 
but that the extremities of its 
wings, and some small part of 
its head and thighs, are black. 
It sits for the space of thirty 
days, and lays but four eggs. 
They migrate to southern coun- 
tries in August, and return in the 
spring. They are still the ob- 
jects of much veneration among 



SWI 



[321 ] 



SYC 



the common people in some parts 
of Europe. 

SUCCOTH, (tents,) a city east 
of the Jordan, between the 
brook Jabbok and that river, 
where Jacob set up his tents on 
his return from Mesopotamia. 
Gen. 33:17. Joshua assigned 
the city subsequently built here 
to the tribe of Gad. Josh. 13:27. 
Gideon tore the flesh of the prin- 
cipal men of Succoth with thorns 
and briers, because they return- 
ed him a haughty answer when 
pursuing the Midianites. Judg. 

SUCCOTH BENOTH, 2 K. 

17:30, (tents of the daughters ,) 
an object of idolatrous worship 
among the Babylonians. These 
were, most probably, tents or 
booths, in which the Babylonian 
females prostituted themselves to 
Mylitta, the Assyrian Venus. 

SUN, the great luminary of 
day, which furnishes so many 
similitudes to the Hebrew poets, 
as well as those of all nations. 
For the idolatrous worship of the 
sun, see under Baal. 

SUPPER, see Eating. For 
the suppers, or love-feasts, which 
used to accompany the celebra- 
tion of the Lord's supper, see 
Feasts. 

SWAP LOW, the well-known 
bird of passage, which is so com- 
mon both in our country, in Eu- 
rope, and in the East. Ps. 84:3. 
Isa. 38:14. Jer. 8:7. 

SWAN. This bird is men- 
tioned only in Lev. 11:18, and 
Deut. 14:16; and it is there 
quite doubtful whether the He- 
brew word means a swan. The 
Septuagint has porplnjrion, or 
purple hen, a water fowl. Not 
improbably it may be the pel- 
ican. 

SWEARING, see Oath. 

SWINE, a well-known ani- 
mal, forbidden as food to the 



Hebrews, who held its flesh in 
such detestation, that they would 
not so much as pronounce its 
name. Lev. 11:7. Deut. 14:8. 

The beautiful and affecting 
parable of the prodigal son, de^- 
signed to represent the degraded 
and destitute condition of the 
Gentile nations, before they were 
called to a participation in the 
blessings of the covenant, by 
the incarnation and ministry of 
the Saviour, shows that the tend- 
ing of swine was considered to be 
an employment of the most des- 
picable character. It was the 
last resource of that depraved 
and unhappy being who had 
squandered away his patrimony 
in riotous living ; and may, per- 
haps, help to account for the oth- 
erwise unnatural conduct of his 
brother, while it sets the strong 
and unconquerable paternal feel- 
ings of his affectionate father in 
a more convincing and interest- 
ing light. Luke, c. 15. 

SYCAMORE, or Sycamine, 
Luke 17:6, a curious tree, which 
seems to partake of the nature 
of both the mulberry and the 
fig, the former in its leaf, and the 
latter in its fruit. Hence its 
name in Greek. The sycamore 
is thus described by Norden :— 
" I shall remark, that they have 
in Egypt divers sorts of figs ; but 
if there is any difference between 
them, a particular kind differs 
still more. I mean that which 
the sycamore bears, that they 
name in Arabic giomez. It was 
upon a tree of this sort that Zac- 
cheus got up, to see our Saviour 
pass through Jericho. This syc- 
amore is of the height of a beech, 
and bears its fruit in a manner 

?ui(e different from other trees. 
t has them on the trunk itself, 
which shoots out little sprigs, in 
form of a grape-stalk, at the end 
of which crows the fruit, close to 



SYE 



[ 322 J 



S YN 



one another, much like bunches 
of grapes. The tree is always 
green, and bears fruit several 
times in the year, without observ- 
ing any certain seasons, for I 
have seen some sycamores which 
had fruit two months after others. 
The fruit has the figure and 
smell of real figs, but is infe- 
rior to them in the taste, having 
a disgustful sweetness. Its color 
is a yellow, inclining to an ochre, 
shadowed by a flesh color; in 
the inside, it resembles the com- 
mon fig, excepting that it has a 
blackish coloring, with yellow 
spots. This sort of tree is pret- 
ty common in Egypt. The peo- 
ple, for the greater part, live on 
its fruit." Luke 19:4. 

From 1 K. 10:27. 1 Chr. 
27:28, and 2 Chron. 1:15, 
it is evident that this tree was 
quite common in Palestine, as 
well as in Egypt ; and from its 
being joined with the vines in Ps. 
78 : 47, as well as from the cir- 
cumstance of David's appointing 
a particular officer to superin- 
tend the plantations of them, it 
seems to have been as much val- 
ued in ancient as in modern times. 
From Isa. 9:10, we find that 
the timber of the sycamore was 
used in the construction of build- 
ings; and, notwithstanding its 
porous and spongy appearance, 
it was of extreme durability. 
Describing the catacombs and 
mummies of Egypt, Dr. Shaw 
states that he found the mummy 
chests, and the little square 
boxes, containing various figures, 
which are placed at the feet of 
each mummy, to be both made 
of sycamore wood, and thus pre- 
served entire and uncorrupted 
for at least three thousand years. 

SYCHAR, or Sychem, see 
Shechem. 

SYENE, a city on the south- 
ern frontiers of Egypt, towards 



Ethiopia, between Thebes and 
the cataracts of the Nile, and 
now called Assouan. Pliny says 
it stands in a peninsula on the 
eastern shore of the Nile ; that it 
was a mile in circumference, and 
had a Roman garrison. Ezek. 
29:10. 30:6. 

SYNAGOGUE, a word which 
primarily signifies an assembly ; 
but, like the word church, came 
at length to be applied to places 
in which any assemblies, espe- 
cially those for the worship of 
God, met, or were convened. 
From the silence of the O. T. 
with reference to these places of 
worship, most commentators and 
writers on biblical antiquities are 
of opinion, that they were not in 
use till after the Babylonish cap- 
tivity. Prior to that time, the 
Jews seem to have held their so- 
cial meetings for religious wor- 
ship either in the open air, or in 
the houses of the prophets. See 
2 K. 4:23. Synagogues could 
only be erected in those places 
where ten men of age, learning, 
piety, and easy circumstances 
could be found to attend to the 
service which was enjoined in 
them. Large towns had several 
synagogues, and soon after the 
captivity, their utility became so 
obvious, that they were scattered 
over the land, and became the 
parish churches of the Jewish na- 
tion. Their number appears to 
have been very considerable, 
and when the erection of a syna- 
gogue was considered as a mark 
of piety, Luke 7:5, or passport 
to heaven, we need not be sur- 
prised to hear that they were 
multiplied beyond all necessity, 
so that, in Jerusalem alone, there 
were not fewer than 460 or 480. 
They were generally built on the 
most elevated ground, and con- 
sisted of two parts. The one on 
the westerly part of the building 



SYN 



[ 323 ] 



SYN 



contained the ark, or chest, in 
which the book of the law and 
the sections of the prophets were 
deposited, and was called the 
temple by way of eminence. 
The other, in which the congre- 
gation assembled, was termed 
the body of the synagogue. The 
people sat with their faces to- 
wards the temple, and the elders 
in the contrary direction, and op- 
posite to the people ; the space 
between them being occupied by 
the pulpit or reading desk. The 
seats of the elders were consid- 
ered as more holy than the oth- 
ers, and are spoken of as " the 
chief seats in the synagogues." 
Matt. 23: 6. 

The stated office-bearers in 
every synagogue were ten, 
though in rank they were but 
six. We notice only the archisyn- 
agogos, or ruler of the syna- 
gogue, who regulated all its 
concerns, and granted permission 
to preach. Of these there were 
three in each synagogue. Dr. 
Lightfoot believes them to have 
possessed a civil power, and to 
have constituted the lowest civil 
tribunal, commonly known as 
" the council of three ;" whose 
office it was to decide the differ- 
ences that arose between any 
members of the synagogue, and 
to judge of money matters, 
thefts, losses, &c. To these offi- 
cers there is probably an allu- 
sion in 1 Cor. 6:5. (See also 
Judgment.) The second office- 
bearer was " the angel of the 
synagogue," or minister of the 
congregation, who prayed and 
preached. In allusion to these, 
the pastors of the Asiatic church- 
es are called angels. Rev. c. 2, 3. 

The service of the synagogue 
was as follows. The people be- 
ing seated, the minister, or angel 
of the synagogue, ascended the 
pulpit, and offered up the public 



prayers ; the people rising- from 
their seats, and standing in a 
posture of deep devotion. Matt. 
6:5. Mark 11:25. Luke 18:11, 
13. The prayers were nineteen 
in number, and were closed by 
reading the execration. The 
next thing was the repetition of 
their phylacteries 3 after which 
came the reading of the law and 
the prophets. The former was 
divided into fifty-four sections, 
with which were united corre- 
sponding portions from the proph- 
ets 5 (see Acts 15 : 21 . 13 : 15,27 3) 
and these were read through once 
in the course of the year. After 
the return from the captivity, an 
interpreter was employed in 
reading the law and the proph- 
ets, (see Neh. 8:2 — 8,) who in- 
terpreted them into the Syro- 
Chaldaic dialect, which was then 
spoken by the people. The last 
part of the service was the ex- 
pounding of the Scriptures, and 
preaching from them to the peo- 
ple. This was done either by 
one of the officers, or by some 
distinguished person who hap- 
pened to be present. The read- 
er will recollect one memorable 
occasion, on which our Saviour 
availed himself of the opportu- 
nity thus afforded to address his 
countrymen, Luke 4:20, and 
there are several other instances 
recorded of himself and his dis- 
ciples teaching in the syna- 
gogues. See Matt. 13:54. 
Mark 6:2. John 18:20. Acts 
13:5,15.44. 14:1. 17:2-4,10, 
17. 18:4,26. 19:8. The whole 
service was concluded with a 
short prayer, or benediction. 

The Jewish synagogues were 
not only used for the purposes of 
divine worship, but also for courts 
of judicature, in such matters as 
fell under the cognizance of the 
council of three, of which we 
have already spoken. On such 



TAA 



[ 324 ] 



TAB 



occasions the sentence given ' 
against the offender was some- 
times carried into effect in the 
place where the council was as- 
sembled. Hence we read of 
persons being beaten in the syna- 
gogue, and scourged in the sijna- 
gogue. Matt. 10:17. Mark 13:9. 

SYNTYCHE, Phil. 4:2, a 
woman eminent for virtue and 
good works in the church at Phi- 
lippi. 

SYRACUSE, still called Sira- 
cusa, or Siragossa, a large and 
celebrated city on the eastern 
coast of Sicily, furnished with a 
capacious and excellent harbor. 
The city was opulent and power- 
ful, and was divided into four 
quarters or districts, to which 
some add a fifth, which were of 
themselves separate cities. The 
whole circumference is stated by 
Strabo to have been 180 stadia, 
or about twenty-two English miles. 
Syracuse is celebrated as having 
been the birth-place and residence 
of Archimedes. Acts 28 : 12. 

SYRIA is called in Hebrew 
Aram, or Aramcea, and is the 
name of a large district of Asia, 
lying, in the widest acceptation 
of the name, between Palestine, 
mount Taurus, and the Tigris, 
and thus including Mesopotamia, 
i. e. in Hebrew, Syria of the two 
rivers. In the N. T. Sj'ria may 
be considered as bounded west 
and north-west by the Mediterra- 
nean and by mount Taurus, which 
separates it from Cilicia and 
Cataonia in Asia Minor, east by 
the Euphrates, and south by 



Arabia Deserta and Palestine, 
or rather Judea, for the name 
Syria included also the northern 
part of Palestine. The valley 
between the ridges of Libanus 
and Anti-Libanus was called 
Code-Syria, which appellation 
was also sometimes extended to 
the adjacent country. At the 
time of the Jewish exile, Syria 
and Phoenicia were subject to 
the king of Babylon, and they 
afterwards were tributary to the 
Persian monarchs. Alter the 
country fell into the hands of the 
Romans, Syria was made the 
province of a proconsul ; to 
which Judea, although governed 
by its own procurators, was an- 
nexed in such a way, that, in 
some cases, an appeal might be 
made to the proconsul of Syria, 
who had at least the power of 
removing the procurators from 
office. 

SYRO-PHCENICIA is Phoe- 
nicia properly so called, but 
which, having by conquest been 
united to the kingdom of Syria, 
added its old name,- Phoenicia, 
to that of Syria. The Canaan- 
itish woman is called a Syro- 
phcenician, Mark 7:26, because 
she was of Phoenicia, then con- 
sidered as part of Syria. Mat- 
thew, who is by some supposed 
to have written in Hebrew or 
Syriac, calls her a Canaanitish 
woman, Matt. 15:22, because 
that country was really peopled 
by Canaanites, Sidon being the 



eldest son of Canaan. Gen. 10 : 
15. See Phcenicia. 



T. 



TAANACH is always men- 
tioned in connection with Megid- 
do, except in Josh, 21:25. The 



inference is, that they lay near 
each other. See Megiddo. 
TABERNACLE means, prop 



TAB 



[325] 



TAB 



erly, a tempo raru dwelling, as a 
booth or tent. In the Scriptures 
it is employed more particularly 
of the tent made by Moses at the 
command of God, for the place of 
religious worship of the Hebrews. 
The directions of God, and the 
account of the execution of them, 
are contained in Ex. c. 25, and 
the following chapters. This is 
usually called the tabernacle of 
the congregation. 

The tabernacle was of an ob- 
long rectangular form, thirty cu- 
bits long", ten broad, and ten in 
height, Ex. 26:15—30. 36:20— 
3D j i. e. about fifty-five feet long, 
eighteen broad, and eighteen high. 
Tiietwo sides and the western end 
wer3 formed of boards of shittim 
wood, overlaid with thin plates 
of gold, and fixed in solid sockets, 
or vases of silver. Above, they 
were secured by bars of the same 
wood, overlaid with gold, pass- 
ing through rings of gold, which 
were fixed to the boards. On 
the east end, which was the en- 
trance, there were no boards, but 
only five pillars of shittim wood, 
whose chapiters and fillets were 
overlaid with gold, and their 
hooks of gold, standing in five 
sockets of brass. The taberna- 
cle, thus erected, was covered 
with four different kinds of cur- 
tains. The first and inner cur- 
tain was composed of fine linen, 
magnificently embroidered with 
figures of cherubim, in shades of 
i>!ue, purple and scarlet; this 
formed the beautiful ceiling. The 
npxt covering was made of goats' 
hair ; the third of rams' skins, 
dyed red ; and the fourth and 
outward covering was made of 
badgers' skins. (See Badgers' 
Skints.) We have already said, 
that the east end of the taberna- 
cle had no boards, but only five 
pillars of shittim wood; it was 
therefore closed with a richly 
28 



embroidered curtain, suspended 
from these pillars. Ex. 27:16. 

Such was the external appear- 
ance of the sacred tent, which 
was divided into two apartments, 
by means of four pillars of shit- 
tim wood, overlaid with gold, 
like the pillars before described, 
two cubits and a half distant 
from each other ; only they stood 
in sockets of silver, instead of 
sockets of brass, Ex. 26:32. 36 : 
36 ; and on these pillars was 
hung a veil, formed of the same 
materials as the one placed at 
the east end. Ex. 26:31— 33. 
36:35. We are not informed in 
what proportions the interior of 
the tabernacle was thus divided ; 
but it is generally supposed that 
it was divided in the same pro- 
portion as the temple afterwards 
built according to its model ; i. e. 
two thirds of the whole length 
being allotted to the first room, 
or the holy place, and one third 
to the second or most holy place. 
Thus the former would be twen- 
ty cubits long, ten wide, and ten 
high, and the latter ten cubits every 
way. It is observable, that nei- 
ther the holy nor most holy places 
had any window. Hence the need 
of the candlestick in the one. for 
the service that was performed 
therein ; the darkness of the other 
would create reverence. 

The tabernacle thus described 
stood in an open space, or court, 
of an oblong form, one hundred 
cubits in length, and fifty in 
breadth, situated due east and 
west. Ex. 27-18. This court 
was surrounded with pillars of 
brass, filleted with silver, and 
placed at the distance of five 
cubits from each other. Their 
sockets were of brass, and were 
fastened to the earth with pins 
of the same metal. Ex. 38:10, 
17,20. Their height is not stated, 
but it was probably five cubits. 



TAB 



[ 326 ] 



TAB 



that being the length of the cur- 
tains that were suspended on 
them. Ex. 38:18. These cur- 
tains, which formed an enclosure 
round the court, were of fine 
twined white linen yarn, Ex. 27 : 
9. 38:9,16, except that at the 
entrance on the east end, which 
was of blue, and purple, and scar- 
let, and fine white twined linen, 
with cords to draw it either up, 
or aside, when the priests enter- 
ed the court. Ex. 27 : 16. 38 : 18. 
Within this area stood the altar of 
burnt-offerings, and thelaverwith 
its foot. This altar was placed 
in a line between the door of the 
court and the door of the taberna- 
cle, but nearer the former, Ex. 40 : 
6,29 3 the laver stood between the 
altar of burnt-offering and the door 
of the tabernacle. Ex. 38:8. 

But although the tabernacle 
was surrounded by the court, 
there is no reason to think that it 
stood in the centre of it. It is 
more probable that the area at 
the east end was fifty cubits 
square ; and indeed a less space 
than that could hardly suffice for 
the work that was to be done 
there, and for the persons who 
were immediately to attend the 
service. We now proceed to 
notice the furniture which the 
tabernacle contained. 

In the holy place were three 
objects worthy of notice, viz. the 
altar of incense, the table for the 
shew-bread, and the candlestick 
for the lights, all of which have 
been described in their respective 
places. The altar of incense 
was placed in the middle of the 
sanctuary, before the veil, Ex. 
30:6—10. 40:26,27; and on it 
the incense was burnt morning 
and evening. Ex. 30:7,8. On 
the north side of the altar of in- 
cense, that is, on the right hand 
of the priest as he entered, stood 
tlie. table for the shew-bread, Ex. 



26:35. 40:22,23; and on the 
south side of the holy place, the 
golden candlestick. Ex. 25:31 — 
39. In the most holy place were 
the ark, the mercy-seat and the 
cherubim. 

The remarkable and costly 
structure thus described was 
erected in the wilderness of Sinai, 
on the first day of the first month 
of the second year, after the Is- 
raelites left Egypt, Ex. 40:17; 
and when erected was anointed, 
together with its furniture, with 
holy oil, ver. 9 — 11, and sanctified 
by blood. Ex. 24:6— 8. Heb. 
9:21. The altar of burnt-offer- 
ings, especially, was sanctified by 
sacrifices during seven days, Ex. 
29 : 37 ; while rich donations were 
given by the princes of the tribes, 
lor the service of the sanctuary. 
Num. c. 7. 

We should not omit to observe, 
that the tabernacle was so con- 
structed as to be taken to pieces 
and put together again, as occa- 
sion required. This was indis- 
pensable; it being designed to 
accompany the Israelites during 
their travels in the wilderness. 
As often as they removed, the 
tabernacle was taken to pieces, 
and borne in regular order by 
the Levites. Num. c.4. Wherev- 
er they encamped, it was pitched 
in the midst of their tents, which 
were set up in a quadrangular 
form, under their respective 
standards, at a distance from the 
tabernacle of 2000 cubits ; while 
Moses and Aaron, with the priests 
and Levites, occupied a place 
between them. 

How long this tabernacle ex- 
isted we do not know. In 2 Sam. 
6:17 and 1 Chr. 15:1, it is said 
that David had prepared and 
pitched a tabernacle in Jerusa- 
lem for the ark, which before 
had long been at Kirjath-jearim, 
and then in the house of Obed 



TAB 



[ 327 ] 



TAB 



edom. 1 Chr. 13:6,14. 2 Sam. 
6:11,12. In 1 Chr. 21:29, it is 
said that the tabernacle of Moses 
was still at Gibeon at that time; 
and it would, therefore, seem 
that the ark had long been sepa- 
rated from it. The tabernacle 
still remained at Gibeon in the 
time of Solomon, who sacrificed 
before it. 2 Chr. 1:3.13. This 
is the last mention made of it ; 
for apparently the tabernacle 
brought with the ark into the 
temple, 2 Chr. 5:5, was the tent 
in which the ark was kept on 
Zion. 2 Chr. 1:4. 5:2. 

Ftast of the Tabernacles. — 
This festival derives its name 
from the booths in which the 
people dwelt during its continu- 
ance, which were constructed of 
the branches and leaves of trees, 
on the roofs of their houses, in the 
courts, and also in the streets. 
It was celebrated during eight 
days, commencing on the fif- 
teenth claj r of the month Tisri, 
(i. e. fifteen days after the new 
moon in October,) and the first 
and last days were particularly 
distinguished. Lev. 23:34 — 
43. Neh. 8 : 14, &c. This fes- 
tival was instituted in memory 
of the forty years' wandering of 
the Israelites in the desert, Lev. 
23:42,43, and also as a season 
of gratitude and thanksgiving for 
the gathering in of the harvest ; 
whence it is also called the/east 
of the harvest. Ex. 23: 16. 34:22. 
The season was an occasion of 
rejoicing and feasting 5 and the 
public sacrifices consisted of two 
rams and fourteen lambs on each 
of the seven first days, together 
with thirteen bullocks on the first 
day, twelve on the second, eleven 
on the third, ten on the fourth, 
nine on the fifth, eight on the 
sixth, and seven on the seventh 5 
while on the eighth day one bul- 
lock, one ram, and seven lambs 



were offered. Num. 29 : 12, &c. 
On every seventh year, the law 
of Moses was also read in public, 
I in the presence of all the people. 
Deut. 31 : 10, &c. Neh. 8 : 18. To 
these ceremonies the later Jews 
added a libation of water min- 
gled with wine, which was poured 
upon the morning sacrifice of 
each day. The priests, having 
filled a vessel of water from the 
fountain of Siloam, bore it through 
the water-gate to the temple, and 
there, while the trumpets and 
horns were sounding, poured it 
upon the sacrifice arranged upon 
the altar. This was probably 
done as a memorial of the abun- 
dant supply of water which God 
afforded to the Israelites during 
their wanderings in the desert. 
The first and eighth days of the 
festival were sabbaths to the 
Lord, in which there was a holy 
convocation, and in which all 
labor was prohibited, Lev. 23 : 
39. Num. 29 : 12,35 5 and as the 
eighth was the last festival day 
celebrated in the course of each 
year, it appears to have been 
esteemed as peculiarly important 
and sacred. John 7:37. 
TABLE, see Bread, and 

TABITHA, see Dorcas. 

TABOR, an isolated mountain 
which rises on the north-eastern 
side of the plain of Esdraelon, in 
Galilee. Its shape is that of a 
truncated cone, and Burckhardt 
states its composition to be en- 
tirely calcareous. Travellers va- 
ry in their estimate of its height, 
which is probably about 2500 to 
3000 feet. Tabor is extremely 
fertile, and is covered by trees 
and odoriferous plants. On its 
summit is a plain about a mile in 
circumference, where are the 
remains of a citadel of some 
considerable extent, but for what 
purpose it was erected is not 



TAB 



[ 328 ] 



TAD 



known. Mr. Buckingham, who 
ascended this mountain, describes 
the view from its summit as 
being the finest in the country : 
" We had on the north-west a 
view of the Mediterranean sea, 
whose blue surface filled up an 
open space left by a downward 
bend in the outline of the western 
hills ; to the west-north-west a 
smaller portion of its waters was 
seen ; and on the west again, the 
slender line of its distant horizon 
was just perceptible over the 
range of land near the sea-coast. 
From the west to the south, the 
plain of Esdraelon extended over 
a vast space, being bounded on 
the south by the range of hills 
sometimes said to be Hermon, 
whose dews are poetically cele- 
brated, Ps. 133:3, and having in 
the same direction, nearer the 
foot of Tabor, the springs of 
Ain-el-Sherrar, which send a 
perceptible stream through its 
centre, and form the brook Ki- 
shon of antiquity. Ps. 83:9. 
From the south-east to the east is 
the plain of Galilee, being almost 
a continuation of Esdraelon, and, 
like it, appearing to be highly cul- 
tivated, being now ploughed for 
seed throughout. Beneath the 
range of this supposed Hermon 
was seated Endor, famed for the 
witch who raised the ghost of 
Samuel, 1 Sam. c. 28, and Nain, 
equally celebrated, as the place 
at which Jesus raised the only 
son of a widow from death to 
life, and restored him to his 
afflicted parent. Luke 7:11 — 15. 
The range which bounds the 
eastern view is the mountains of 
Gilboa, where Saul fell on his 
own sword, rather than fall into 
the hands of the uncircumcised 
Philistines, by whom he was de- 
feated. 1 Sam. c. 31. The sea 
of Tiberias, or the lake of Gen- 
nesaret, famed as the seat of 



many miracles, is seen on the 
north-east, filling the hollow of a 
deep valley, and contrasting its 
light blue waters with the dark 
brown shades of the barren hills 
by which it is hemmed around. 
In the same direction, over the 
plain of Galilee, at the distance 
of three or four miles, is a rising 
ground, from which it is said 
that Christ delivered the ' Ser- 
mon on the mount;' and the 
whole view in this quarter is 
bounded by the high range of 
Gebel-el-Telj, or the mountain 
of Snow. The city of Saphet, 
supposed to be the ancient I3e- 
thuliah, a city said to be seen 
far and near, and thought to be 
alluded to in the apophthegm 
which says, ' A city set on a hill 
cannot be hid/ Matt. 5:14, is 
also pointed out in this direction. 
To the north were the stony hills 
over which we had journeyed 
hither ; and these completed this 
truly grand and interesting pano- 
ramic view." It was from Ta- 
bor that Barak descended with 
his army to attack Sisera, en- 
camped in the plain. Judg. 
4:14. 

TABRET, or Tabouret, a 
small species of drum, the same 
as Timbrel, which see. 

TADMOR, subsequently called 
Palmyra by the Greeks, was a 
city founded by Solomon in the 
desert of Syra, on the borders 
of Arabia Deserta, near the Eu- 
phrates. 2 Chr. 8:4. Its situa- 
tion was remote from human 
habitations, in the midst of a 
dreary wilderness ; and it is 
probable that Solomon built it to 
facilitate his commerce with the 
East, as it afforded a supply of 
water, a thing of the utmost im- 
portance in an Arabian desert. 
It is one day's journey from the 
Euphrates, two fromUpper Syria, 
and six from Babylon. The 



TAD 



[ 329 ] 



TAL 



original name was preserved till 
the time of Alexander, who ex- 
tended his conquests to this city, 
which then exchanged Tadmor 
for the title of Palmyra. It sub- 
mitted to the Romans about the 
year 130, and continued in alli- 
ance with them during a period 
of 150 years. When the Sara- 
cens triumphed in the East, they 
acquired possession of this city, 
and restored its ancient name of 
Tadmor. Of the time of its ruin 
there is no authentic record ; but 
it is thought, with some proba- 
bility, that its destruction occur- 
red during the period in which it 
was occupied by the Saracens. 
Of its present appearance Messrs. 
Wood and Dawkins, who visited 
it in 1751, thus speak : " It is 
scarcely possible to imagine any 
thing more striking than this view. 
So great a number of Corinthian 
pillars, mixed with so little wall 
or solid building, afforded a most 
romantic variety of prospect." 
Volney observes, " In the space 
covered by these ruins, we some- 
times find a palace, of which 
nothing remains but the court 
and walls ; sometimes a temple, 
whose peristyle is half thrown 
down ; and now a portico, a gal- 
lery, a triumphal arch. If from 
this striking scene we cast our 
eyes upon the ground, another 
almost as varied presents itself. 
On which side soever we look, 
the earth is strewed with vast 
stones half buried, with broken 
entablatures, mutilated friezes, 
disfigured reliefs, effaced sculp- 
tures, violated tombs, and altars 
defiled by the dust.' 7 It is situ- 
ated under a ridge of barren hills 
to the west, and its other sides 
are open to the desert. The city 
was originally about ten miles in 
circumference ; but such have 
been the destructions effected 
by time, that the boundaries are 
28* 



with difficulty traced and deter- 
mined. 

TAHAPANES, Jer. 2 : 16, or 
Tahpanhes, Jer. 43:7,9, or 
Tehaphnehes, Ezek. 30:18, 
the name of an Egyptian city, for 
which the seventy put Taphne, 
and this the Greeks write Daphne. 
This city lay in the vicinity of 
Pelusium, towards the south- 
west, on the western bank of the 
Pelusiac branch of the Nile ; and 
is therefore called by Herodotus 
the Pelusiac Daphne. To this 
city many of the Jews retired, 
after the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem by the Chaldeans, taking 
with them the prophet Jeremiah. 
Jer. 43: 7— 9. 44:1. ThatTaha- 
panes was a large and important 
city, is apparent from the threats 
uttered against it by Ezekiel, c. 
30:18. 

TALENT. This was a weight 
used among the Jews, Greeks, 
and Romans, but varying ex- 
ceedingly in different countries 
and in different parts of the same 
country. The Jewish talent is 
usually estimated at about 125 
pounds troy weight ; though oth- 
ers estimate it a little less than 
114 pounds troy. The common 
Attic talent was equal, on the 
usual estimate, to about 56 lbs. 
11 oz. troy. In the N. T. a tal- 
ent is a denomination of money, 
which was anciently reckoned 
by weight. The value of the 
talent, therefore, varied in differ- 
ent countries, in proportion to 
the different weights of the talent. 
The Jewish talent appears, from 
Ex. 38 : 25,26, to have been equal 
to 3000 shekels, and as the she- 
kel is estimated at about 50 cents, 
the value of the talent would be 
about 1500 dollars. The Attic 
talent is usually reckoned at 
about 225 pounds sterling, or 1000 
dollars ; though others make it 
only about 860 dollars. The 



TAR 



[ 330 ] 



TAR 



talent spoken of in the N. T. is 
probably the Jewish, and is used 
only of an indefinitely large sum. 
Matt. 18:24. 25:15,16, &c. 

TAMMUZ, a pagan idol, 
mentioned in Ezek. 8 : 14, where 
the women are represented as 
weeping for it. It is generally 
supposed that Tammuz was the 
same deity as the heathen Adonis. 

TARES- It is not easy to 
decide whether, by the term 
zizania, {tares,) in Matt. 13:25, 
the Saviour intends indifferently 
all plants which grow among 
grain, or some particular species. 
All we are certain of from the 
circumstances of the parable is, 
that it is a plant which rises to 
the height of the corn. " Among 
the hurtful weeds," says John- 
son, " darnell {lolium album) is 
the first. It bringeth forth leaves 
like those of wheat or barley, yet 
rougher, with a long ear, made 
up of many little ones, every 
particular whereof containeth two 
or three grains lesser than those 
of wheat ; scarcely any chaffy 
husk to cover them with ; by 
reason whereof they are easily 
shaken about, and scattered 
abroad. They grow in fields 
among wheat and barley. They 
spring and flourish with the corn ; 
and in August the seed is ripe. 
Darnell is called in the Arabian 
tongue, zizania." Forskal says 
the darnell is well known to the 
people of Aleppo. It grows 
among corn. If the seeds re- 
main mixed with the meal, they 
render a man drunk by eating 
the bread. Tlie reapers do not 
separate the plant ; but, after the 
threshing, they reject the seeds 
by means of a fan or sieve. This 
beautifully illustrates the parable 
of our Saviour, Matt. 13:25, &c. 

TARSHISH, the name of a 
city and country in Spain, Tar- 
lessus, the most celebrated em- 



porium in the west to which the 
Hebrews and Phoenicians traded. 
That Tarshish was situated in 
the west is evident from Gen. 
10:4, where it is joined with 
Elisha, Kittim and Dodanim. 
See also Ps. 72:10. According 
to Ezek. 38 : 13, it was an impor- 
tant place of trade ; according 
to Jer. 10:9, it exported silver ; 
and according to Ezek. 27 : 12,25, 
silver, iron, tin and lead to the 
Tyrian markets. They embark- 
ed for this place from Joppa.' 
Jonah 1 :3,4. In Isa. 23:1,6,10, 
it is evidently represented as an 
important Phoenician colony. It 
is named among other distant 
states, in Isa. 66 : 19. All these 
notices agree with Tartessus. 

In the interval between the 
composition of the books of Kings 
and Chronicles, this name seems 
to have been transferred to de- 
note any distant country 5 hence 
the Tarshish ships that went to 
Ophir, 1 K. 22:48,49, are said 
expressly by the writer of Chron- 
icles to have gone to Tarshish. 
2 Chr. 9:21. 20:36. There is 
no necessity, then, for the adop- 
tion of a second Tarshish, per- 
haps in India or Ethiopia. 

Tarshish ships is employed in 
Isa. 23: 1,14. 60 : 9, &c. to denote 
any large merchant ships bound 
on long voyages, even though 
they were sent to other countries 
instead of Tarshish. The Eng- 
lish phrase an Indiaman is very 
similar. 

TARSUS, the name of a cel- 
ebrated city, the metropolis of 
Cilicia, situated on the banks of 
the river Cydnus, which flowed 
through and divided it into two 
parts. Tarsus was distinguished 
for the culture of Greek literature 
and philosophy, so that at one 
time, in its schools and in the 
number of its learned men, it 
was the rival of Athens and Al 



TEM 



[331 ] 



TEM 



exandria. In reward for its ex- 
ertions and sacrifices during- the 
civil wars of Rome, Tarsus was 
made a free city by Augustus. 
It was the privilege of such cities, 
that they were governed by their 
own laws and magistrates, and 
were not subjected to the juris- 
diction of a Roman governor, nor 
to the power of a Roman gar- 
rison ; although they acknowl- 
edged the supremacy of the 
Roman people, and were bound 
to aid them against their enemies. 
That the freedom of Tarsus, 
however, was not equivalent to 
being a Roman citizen, appears 
from this, that the tribune, al- 
though he knew Paul to be a citi- 
zen of Tarsus, Acts 21:39, yet 
ordered him to be scourged, 
22:24, but desisted from his pur- 
pose when he learned that Paul 
was a Roman citizen, 22:27. It 
is therefore probable, that the 
ancestors of Paul had obtained 
the privilege of Roman citizen- 
ship in some other way. Acts 
9:30. 11:25. 22:3. 

Taverns, Three, see Appii 
Forum. 

TEHAPHNEHES, see Ta- 

HAPANES. 

TEIL-TREE, the same with 
the lime or linden. See Oak. 

TEKOA, a city of Judah, 2 
Sam. 14:2, twelve miles from 
Jerusalem, south. The wilder- 
ness of Tekoa, mentioned 2 Chr. 
20:20, is not far from the Dead 
sea. 

TEMAN means, in general, 
the south. It is also put for a 
city, district and people, in the 
south, situated in the desert east 
of Idumea, and so called from 
Teman, a descendant of Esau. 
Gen. 36:11,15. Jer. 49:7,20. 
Hab.3:3. 

TEMPLE. After the Lord 
had instructed David that Jeru- 
salem was the place he had 



chosen, in which to fix his dwell- 
ing, that pious prince began to 
realize his design of preparing a 
temple for the Lord, that might 
be something worthy of his divine 
majesty. lie opened his mind 
on this subject to the prophet 
Nathan, but the Lord did not 
think fit that he should execute 
his purpose. The honor was 
reserved for Solomon, his son 
and successor, who was to be a 
peaceful prince, and not like 
David, who had shed much blood 
in war. David, however, ap- 
plied himself to collect great 
quantities of gold, silver, brass, 
iron, and other materials for this 
undertaking. 2 Sam. c. 7. 1 Chr. 
c. 22. 

The place chosen for erecting 
this magnificent structure was 
mount Moriah, the summit of 
which, originally, was unequal, 
and its sides irregular ; but it 
was an object of ambition with 
the Jews to level and extend it. 
The plan and the whole model 
of this structure was laid by the 
same divine architect as that of 
the tabernacle, viz. God himself; 
and it was built much in the same 
form as the tabernacle, but was 
of much larger dimensions. The 
utensils for the sacred service 
were also the same as those used 
in the tabernacle, only several of 
them were larger, in proportion 
to the more spacious edifice to 
which they belonged. The foun- 
dations of this magnificent edi- 
fice were laid by Solomon, in the 
year B. C. 1008, and it was fin- 
ished B. C. 1000, having occu- 
pied seven years and six months 
in the building. It was dedi- 
cated the next year, with pecu- 
liar solemnity, to the worship of 
Jehovah, who condescended to 
make it the place for the special 
manifestation of his glory. 2 Chr. 
c. 5, 6, 7. The front or en- 



TEM 



[ 332 ] 



TEM 



trance to the temple was on the 
eastern side, and consequently 
facing the mount of Olives, 
which commanded a noble pros- 

Eect of the building- the holy of 
olies, therefore, stood towards 
the west. The temple itself, 
strictly so called, which comprised 
the porch, the sanctuary, and the 
holy of holies, formed only a 
small part of the sacred edifice, 
these being surrounded by spa- 
cious courts, chambers, and other 
apartments, which were much 
more extensive than the temple 
itself. 

From the descriptions which 
are handed down to us of the 
temple of Solomon, it is utterly 
impossible to obtain so accurate 
an idea of its relative parts and 
their respective proportions, as 
to furnish such an account as 
may be deemed satisfactory to 
the reader. Hence we find no 
two writers agreeing in their de- 
scriptions. The following ac- 
count may give a general idea 
of the building. 

The temple itself was seventy 
cubits long; the porch being ten 
cubits, 1 K. 6:3, the holy place 
forty cubits, ver. 17, and the 
most holy place, twenty cubits, 
2 Chr. 3:8. The width of the 
porch, holy and most holy 
places was twenty cubits, 2 Chr. 
3:3, and the height over the holy 
and most holy places was thirty 
cubits, 1 K. 6 :2, but the height of 
the porch was much greater, being 
no less than 120 cubits, 2 Chr. 
3: 4, or four times the height of the 
rest of the building. To the north 
and south sides, and the west 
end of the holy and most holy 
places, or all around the edifice, 
from the back of the porch on 
the one side, to the back of the 
porch on the other side, certain 
buildings were attached. These 
were called side chambers, and 



consisted of three stories, each 
five cubits high, 1 K. 6 : 10, and 
joined to the wall of the temple 
without. Thus the three stories 
of side chambers, when taken 
together, were fifteen cubits 
high, and consequently reached 
exactly to half the height of the 
side walls, and end of the temple ; 
so that there was abundance of 
space, above these, for the win- 
dows which gave light to the 
temple, ver. 4. 

The Court of the Gentiles was 
so called because it might be 
entered by persons of all nations 
The chief entrance to it was by 
the east gale, which was the 
principal gate of the temple. It 
was the exterior court, and by 
far the largest of all the courts 
belonging to the temple ; and is 
said by some to have covered a 
space of more than fourteen 
acres ; but this is hardly credible. 
It was separated from the court 
of the women, by a wall three 
cubits high of lattice work. It 
was from this court that our Sa- 
viour drove the persons who had 
established a cattle-market, for 
the purpose of supplying those 
with sacrifices who came from a 
distance. Matt. 21:12,13. We 
must not overlook the beautiful 
pavement of variegated marble, 
and the piazzas, or covered 
walks, with which this court was 
surrounded. Those on the east, 
west and north sides were of 
the same dimensions ; but that 
on the south was much larger. 
The porch called Solomon's, 
John 10:23, Acts 3:11, was on 
the east side or front of the .tem- 
ple, and was so called because it 
was built by this prince, upon a 
high wall rising from the valley 
of Kedron. 

The Court of the Women, 
called in Scripture the new court, 
2 Chr. 20:5, and the outer court, 



TEM 



[ 333 ] 



TEM 



Ezek. 46:21, was so designated 
by the Jews, not because none 
but women were permitted to | 
enter it, but because it was their | 
appointed place of worship, be- 
yond which they might not go, 
unless when they brought a sac- 
rifice, in which case they went 
forward to the court of Israel. 
The gale which led into this 
court, from that of the Gentiles, 
was the beautiful gate of the 
temple, mentioned Acts 3:2, so 
called, because the folding doors, 
lintel and side-posts, were all 
overlaid with Corinthian brass. 
The court itself was 135 cubits 
square, having four gates, one 
on each side ; and on three of 
its sides were piazzas, with gal- 
leries above them, whence could 
be seen what was passing in 
the great court. It was in this 
court of the women, called the 
treasury, that our Saviour deliv- 
ered his striking discourse to the 
Jews, related in John 8:1 — 20. 
It was into this court, also, that 
the Pharisee and publican went 
to pray, Luke 18:10 — 13, and 
into which the lame man followed 
Peter and John, after he was 
cured ; the court of the women 
being the ordinary place of wor- 
ship for those who brought no 
sacrifice. Acts 3:8. From 
thence, after prayers, he went 
back with them, through the 
beautiful g-ate of the temple, 
where he had been lying, and 
through the sacred fence, into 
the court of the Gentiles, where, 
under the eastern piazza, or Solo- 
mon's porch, Peter delivered that 
sermon which converted 5000. 
It was in the same court of the 
women, that the Jews laid hold 
of Paul, when they judged him ) 
a violatorof the temple, by taking 
Gentiles within the sacred fence. 
Acts 21:26", &c. 

The Court of Israel was sep- 



arated from the court of the 
women by a wall thirty-two and 
a half cubits high, on that side, 
but on the other only twenty-five. 
The reason of which difference 
was, that as the rock on which 
the temple stood always became 
higher on advancing westward, 
the several courts naturally be- 
came elevated in proportion. 
The ascent into the court was by 
a flight of fifteen steps, of a 
semicircular form. The whole 
length of the court from east to 
west was 187 cubits, and the 
breadth from north to south, 135 
cubits. This was divided into 
two parts, one of which was the 
court of the Israelites, and the 
other, the court of the priests. 
The former was a kind of piazza 
surrounding the latter, under 
which the Israelites stood while 
their sacrifices were burning in 
the court of the priests. The 
space which was comprised in 
the court of the priests was 165 
cubits long, and 119 cubits wide, 
and was raised two and a half cu- 
bits above the surrounding court, 
from which it was separated by 
the pillars which supported the 
piazza, aud the railing which 
was placed between them. With- 
in this court stood the brazen 
altar, on which the sacrifices 
were consumed, the molten sea, 
in which the priests washed, and 
the ten brazen lavers. for wash- 
ing the sacrifices 3 also the vari- 
ous utensils and instruments for 
sacrificing, which are enumerated 
in 2 Chr. c. 4. It is necessary 
to observe here, that although 
the court of the priests was not 
accessible to all Israelites, as that 
of Israel was to all the priests, 
yet they might enter it on three 
several occasions j viz. to lav 
their hands on the animals which 
they offered, or to kill them, or 
to wave some part of them 



TEM 



[ 334 ] 



TEM 



From the court of the priests, 
the ascent to the temple was by 
a flight of twelve steps, each 
half a cubit in height, which led 
into the sacred porch. Of the 
dimensions of this, as also of the 
sanctuary and holy of holies, we 
have already spoken. It was 
within the door of the porch, and 
in the sight of those who stood 
in the courts immediately before 
it, that the two pillars, Jachiu 
and Boaz, were placed. 2 Chr. 
3:17. Ezek. 40:49. 

The temple thus described re- 
tained its pristine splendor but 
thirty-three years, when it was 
plundered by Shishak, king of 
Egypt. IK. 14:25,26. 2 Chr. 
12:9. After this period it under- 
went sundry profanations and 
pillages, and was, at length, ut- 
terly destroyed by Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon, B. C. 
588, after having stood, accord- 
ing to Usher, 421 years, three 
months and eight da} r s. 

After lying in ruins for fifty- 
two years, the foundations of the 
second temple were laid by Ze- 
rubbabel, and the Jews who had 
availed themselves of the privi- 
lege granted by Cyrus, and re- 
turned to Jerusalem. Ezra 1 : 1 
—4. 2:1. 3:8—10. After vari- 
ous hindrances, it was finished 
and dedicated, twenty-one years 
after it was begun, B. C. 515. 
Ezra 6:15,16. The dimensions 
of this temple in breadth and 
height were double those of Sol- 
omon's. The weeping of the 
people at the laying of the foun- 
dation, therefore, Ezra 3:12,13, 
and the diminutive manner in 
which they spoke of it, when 
compared with the first one, Hag. 
2:3, were not occasioned by its 
inferiority in size, but in glory. 
It wanted the five principal things 
which could invest it with this ; 
viz. the ark and mercy-seat j the 



divine presence, or visible glory ; 
the holy fire on the altar ; the 
urim and thummim ; and the 
spirit of prophecy. In the year 
B. C. 163, this temple was plun- 
dered and profaned by Antiochus 
Epiphanes, who ordered the 
discontinuance of the daily sa- 
crifice, offered swine's flesh upon 
the altar, and completely sus- 
pended the worship of Jehovah. 
1 Mac. 1:46,47, &c. Thus it 
continued for three years, when 
it was repaired and purified by 
Judas Maccabeus, who restored 
the divine worship, and dedicated 
it anew. 

Herod, having slain all the 
sanhedrim, except two, in the 
first year of his reign, B. C. 37, 
reso'ved to atone for it, by re- 
building and beautifying the 
temple. This he was the more 
inclined to do. both from the 
peace which he enjoyed, and the 
decayed state of the edifice 
After employing two years in 
preparing the materials for the 
work, the temple of Zerubbabel 
was pulled down, B. C. 17, and 
forty-six years before the first 
Passover of Christ's ministry. 
Although this temple was fit for 
divine service in nine years and 
a half, yet a great number of 
laborers and artificers were still 
employed in carrying on the 
out-buildings, all the time of our 
Saviour's abode on earth. The 
temple of Herod was considera- 
bly larger than that of Zerub- 
babel, as that of Zerubbabel 
was larger than Solomon's. For, 
whereas the second temple 
was seventy cubits long, sixty 
broad, and sixty high, this was 
one hundred cubits long, seventy 
broad, and one hundred high. 
The porch was raised to the 
height of one hundred cubits, 
and was extended fifteen cubits 
beyond each side of the rest of 



TE N 



[ 335 ] 



TEN 



the building. All the Jewish 
writers praise this temple ex- 
ceedingly for its beauty, and the 
costliness of its workmanship. 
It was built of white marble, ex- 
quisitely wrought, and with stones 
of large dimensions, some of 
them twenty-five cubits long, 
eight cubits high, and twelve cu- 
bits thick. To these there is no 
doubt a reference in Mark 13:1. 
Luke 21:5, "And as he went 
out of the temple, one of his dis- 
ciples saith unto him, Master, see 
what manner of stones and 
what buildings are here I" Luke 
says, goodly stones. 

This splendid building, how- 
ever, which was once the admi- 
ration and envy of the world, 
has for ever passed away. Ac- 
cording to our blessed Lord's 
prediction, that " there should 
not be left one stone upon anoth- 
er that should not be thrown 
('own," Mark 13:2, it was com- 
pletely demolished by the Ro- 
man soldiers, under Titus, A. D. 
70. Its site is now occupied by 
a Turkish mosque, into which 
neither Jew nor Christian is per- 
mitted to enter. 

TENT. The mode of dwelling 
in tents was very general, in 
ancient times, among- eastern na- 



tions : their way of life being in 
general pastoral, locomotion be- 
came necessary for pasturage, 
and dwellings adapted for such 
a life became indispensable. 
On the exodus of the Israelites 
from Egypt, throughout their 
peregrinations, until they ob- 
tained the promised land, they 
adopted the same kind of habita- 
tion. The Midianites, the Philis- 
tines, the Syrians, the descend- 
ants of Ham, the Hagarites and 
Cushanites are mentioned in 
Scripture as living; in tents. But 
the people most remarkable for 
this unsettled and wandering 
mode of life are the Arabs, who, 
r-om the time of Ishmael to the 
present day, have continued the 
custom of dwelling - in tenfs. 
Amidst the revolutions which have 
transferred kingdoms from one 
possessor to another, these wan 
dering tribes still dwell in tents, 
unsubdued and wild as was their 
progenitor. This kind of dwell- 
ing is not, however, confined to- 
the Arabs, but is used throughout 
the continent of Asia. The 
word tent is formed from the 
Latin, " to stretch ;" tents being 
usually made of canvass stretched 
out, and sustained by poles with, 
cords and pegs. 




Tents are of various colors ; 
black, as the tents of Kedar; 
red, as of scarlet cloth ; yellow, 



as of gold shining brilliantly j 
white, as of canvass. They are 
also of various shapes j some 



TER 



[ 336 ] 



TET 



circular, others of an oblong- 
figure, not unlike the bottom of 
a ship turned upside down. In 
Syria, the tents are generally 
made of cloth of goats' hair, 
woven by women. Those of the 
Arabs are of black goats 7 hair. 
Some other nations adopt the 
same kind, but it is not common. 
The modern royal tents of the 
Arabs have generally no other 
covering than black hair-cloth. 
The Turcomans, who are a na- 
tion living in the Holy Land, 
dwell in tents of white linen 
cloth : the;y are very neat in their 
camps, and lie in good beds. The 
Egyptian and Moorish inhabit- 
ants of Askalon are said to use 
white tents ; and D'Arvieux 
mentions that the tent of an 
Arab emir he visited was dis- 
tinguished from the rest by its 
being of while cloth. 

TENTH-DEAL, i. e. tenth 
part, corresponding to the Heb. 
assaron, or the tenth part of an 
ephah. It may, therefore, be (he 
same as the omer, about five 
pints. Lev 23:17. 

TERAH, father of Nahor, 
Haran and Abraham, Gen. 
11:24, begat Abraham at the 
age of seventy-two years, and 
lefi Ur, of the Chaldeans, to 
settle at Haran, in Mesopotamia, 
about B. C. 1918, Gen. 11 :31,32. 
He died there the same year, 
aged 275 years. Scripture in- 
timates plainly, that Terah had 
fallen into idolatry, Josh. 24:2, 
14; and some think that Abra- 
ham himself, at first, worshipped 
idols ; but that afterwards, God 
being gracious to him, convinced 
him of the vanit} r of this worship, 
and that he undeceived his father 
Terah. 

TERAPHIM, idols or super- 
stitious figures, to which extraor- 
dinary effects were ascribed. 
The eastern people are still much 



addicted to this superstition of 
talismans. The images of Ra- 
chel. Gen. 31 : 19, were terapliim. 
So judg. 17:5. 18:14,20. Hos. 
3:4. 

TEREBINTH, see under 
Oak. 

TERTIUS, a Christian whom 
Paul employed as his amanuen- 
sis in writing the Epistle to the 
Romans. Rom. 16:22. 

TERTULLUS, a Roman or- 
ator or advocate, whom the Jews 
employed to bring forward their 
accusation against Paul, before 
the Roman procurator at Cesa- 
rea, probably because they were 
themselves unacquainted with 
the modes of proceeding in the 
Roman courts. Acts 24:1,2. 

TESTAMENT is commonly 
taken in Scripture for the cove- 
nant, the law, the promises. See 
Covenant. 

TETRARCH is strictly the 
sovereign of the fourth part of a 
slate or province. But in the 
N. T. it is a general title applied 
to those who governed any part 
of a kingdom or province, with 
an authority subject only to that 
of the Roman emperor. Thus 
Herod the Great and his brother 
were at one time, in early life, 
constituted tetrarchs of Judea by 
Antony. At the death of Herod 
the Great, he left half his king- 
dom to Archelaus. with the title 
of ethvarch ; while the other 
half was divided between two of 
his other sens, Herod Antipas 
and Philip, with the title of te- 
trarchs. (See in Herod 1 and 
2.) In the same manner Lysa- 
nias is also said to have been 
tetrarch of Abih ne. Luke 3:1. 
In the N. T. it is spoken only 
of Herod Antipas. Matt. 14:1. 
Luke 3:19.9:7. Acts 13:1. As 
the authority of the tetrarch was 
similar to "that of the king, so 
the general term king is also ap 



THE 



[337] 



THR 



plied to Herod. Matt. 14:9. 
Mark 6:14. 

T HADDEUS, a surname of 
the apostle Jude. See Judas 2. 

THEOPHILUS, an honora- 
ble person, to whom the evan- 
gelist Luke addressed his Gos- 
pel, and the Acts of the Apostles. 
Luke 1.3. Acts 1:1. We can 
only say of him, in general, that 
most probably he was a man of 
some note, who lived out of Pal- 
estine, and had abjured pagan- 
ism in order to embrace Chris- 
tianitv. 

THESSALONICA. a city 
and seaport of the second part 
of Macedonia. It is situated at 
the head of the Sinus Thermai- 
cus. When JEmilius Paulus, 
after his conquest of Macedonia, 
divided the country into four 
districts, this city was made the 
capital of the second division, 
and was the station of a Roman 
governor and questor. It was 
anciently called Thermo. It was 
inhabited by Greeks, Romans 
and Jews, from among whom the 
apostle Paul gathered a numer- 
ous church. There was a large 
number of Jews resident in this 
city, where they had a syna- 
gogue, in which Paul, A. D. 52, 
preached to them on three suc- 
cessive sabbaths. Some of the 
Jews, and many of the Gentiles, 
embraced the gospel, but the 
rest of the Jews determined to 
maltreat the apostle, and sur- 
rounded the house in which they 
believed he was lodging. The 
brethren, however, secretly led 
Paul and Silas out of the city, 
towards Berea, and they es- 
caped from their enemies. Acts 
c. 17. Thessalonica, now called 
Saloniki, is at present a wretched 
town, but having a population of 
about 60,000 persons. 

When Paul left. Macedonia for 
Athens and Corinth, he left be- 
29 



hind him Timothy and Silas, at 
Thessalonica, that they might 
confirm those in the faith who 
had been converted under his 
ministry. He afterwards wrote 
to the church of the Thessaloni- 
ans two epistles. See Paul. 

THOMAS, the apostle, Matt. 
10:3, called in Greek Didymus, 
John 20:24, was probably a Gal- 
ilean, as well as the other apos- 
tles j but the place of his birth, 
and the circumstances of his 
calling, are unknown. He at 
first doubted our Lord's resurrec- 
tion, John 20 -.19—29. Several 
of the fathers inform us, that he 
preached in the Indies ; and 
others say, that he preached in 
Cush, or Ethiopia, near the Cas- 
pian sea. 

There are Christians in the 
East Indies, who bear the name 
of St. Thomas, because they 
report that this apostle preached 
the gospel there. They dwell in 
a peninsula of the Indus, on this 
side the gulf. There are also 
many in the kingdom of Cran- 
ganor, and in neighboring places j 
as also at Negapatam, Meliapur, 
Engamar, beyond Cochin, where 
their archbishop resides, who ac- 
knowledges the jurisdiction of 
the patriarch of Babylon. 

THRESHING was anciently 
and is still performed in the East, 
sometimes with a flail, sometimes 
by treading out the grain with 
oxen or horses, but more generally 
by means of oxen dragging an 
uncouth instrument over the 
sheaves of grain. (See Corn.) 
This last mode of threshing is 
thus described by Niebuhr. He 
says, " In threshing their corn, 
the Arabians lay the sheaves 
down in a certain order, and 
then lead over them two oxen, 
dragging a large stone. This 
mode of separating the ears from 
the straw is not unlike that of 



THR 



[ 338 ] 



THR 



Egypt." The Egyptian mode 
he thus describes : " They use 
oxen, as the ancients did, to beat 
out their corn, by trampling upon 
the sheaves, and dragging after 
them a clumsy machine. This 
machine is not, as in Arabia, a 
stone cylinder ; nor a plank 
with sharp stones, as in Syria, 
but a sort of sledge, consisting 
of three rollers, fitted with 
irons, which turn upon axles. 
A farmer chooses out a level 
spot in his fields, and has his 
corn carried thither in sheaves, 
upon asses or dromedaries. 
Two oxen are then yoked in a 
sledge ; a driver gets upon it, 
and drives them backwards and 
forwards [or in a circle] upon the 
sheaves ; and fresh oxen suc- 
ceed in the yoke, from time 
to time. By this operation, the 
chaff is very much cut down ; 
the whole is then winnowed, and 
the pure grain thus separated. 
This mode of threshing out the 
corn is tedious and inconvenient; 
it destroys the chaff, and injures 
the quality of the grain." 

" This machine is called nau- 
ridj. It has three rollers, which 
turn on their axles ; and each of 
them is furnished with some irons, 
round and flat. At the beginning 
of June, Mr. Forskal and I sev- 
eral times saw, in the environs 
of Gizeh, how corn was threshed 
in Egypt. Every peasant chose 
for himself, in the open field, a 
smooth plat of ground, from 
80 to 100 paces in circumference. 
Hither was brought, on camels 
or asses, the corn in sheaves, of 
which was formed a ring of six 
or eight feet wide, and two high. 
Two oxen were made to draw 
over it again and again the sledge 
(traineau) above mentioned, and 
this was done with the greatest 
convenience to the driver j for 



he was seated in a chair fixed on 
the sledge. Two such parcel* 
or layers of corn are threshed 
out in a day, and they move 
each of them as many as eight 
times, with a wooden fork of 
five prongs, which they call med- 
dre. Afterwards they throw the 
straw into the middle of the ring, 
where it forms a heap, which 
grows bigger and bigger. When 
the first layer is threshed, they 
replace the straw in the ring, and 
thresh it as before. Thus the 
straw becomes every time small- 
er, till at last it resembles 
chopped straw. After this, with 
the fork just described, they cast 
the whole some yards from 
thence, and against the wind ; 
which driving back the straw, the 
corn and the ears not threshed 
out fall apart from it, and make 
another heap. A man collects 
the clods of dirt and other impu- 
rities, to which any corn adheres, 
and throws them into a sieve. 
They afterwards place in a ring 
the heaps, in which a good many 
en'.ire ears are still found, and 
drive over them, for four or five 
hours together, a dozen couple 
of oxen, joined two and two, till, 
by absolute trampling, they have 
separated the grains, which they 
throw into the air with a shovel 
to cleanse them.' r 

The ancient Arabs, Syrians, 
Egyptians and Romans threshed 
their corn in the same manner, 
by the feet of cattle. "The 
Moors and Arabs,' 7 says Dr. 
Shaw, " continue to tread out 
their corn after the primitive cus- 
tom of the East." 

In the accompanying engrav- 
ing, fig. A gives a view of the 
bottom of the threshing instru- 
ment with its rollers, and fig. B 
exhibits a side view of the ma 
chine. 



[339] 




TIB 



[ 340 



TIM 



THUMMIM, see Urim. 

THY ATIRA, a city of Lydia, 
in Asia Minor, anciently called 
Pelopia and Euhippia, now Ak- 
hisar. It was situated on the 
confines of Lydia and Mysia, 
near the river Lycus, between 
Sardis and Pergamus. Acts 
16.14. Rev. 1 11. 2:18,24. 
The art of dyeing - purple was 
particularly cultivated at Thya- 
tira, as appears from an inscrip- 
tion found there. See Miss. Her. 
for 1821, p. 251. 

THYINE-WOOD, Rev. 18: 
12, the wood of the thyia v. thuja 
articulata of Linnaeus, an aro- 
matic evergreen tree, resembling 
the cedar, and found in Libya. 
The wood was used in burning 
incense. 

TIBERIAS, a city of Galilee, 
founded by Herod Antipas, and 
named by him in honor of the 
emperor Tiberius. It is situated 
on the south-west shore of the 
lake of Gennesareth, about an 
hour's ride from the place where 
the Jordan issues from the 
lake. In the vicinity of the city 
were hot springs, which were 
much celebrated. The lake is 
also sometimes called, from the 
citv, the sea of Tiberias. John 
6:1,23. 21:1. (See the article 
Ska, and Miss. Her. for 1824, p. 
308.) After the destruction of 
Jerusalem, Tiberias was celebrat- 
ed as the seat of a flourishing 
school of Jewish learning. 

TIBERIUS, i. e. Tiberius 
Claudius Drusus Nero, the sec- 
ond emperor of Rome. He was 
the son of Livia, and step-son of 
Augustus ; and, being adopted 
by that emperor, he succeeded to 
his throne A. D. 14. He died 
A. D. 37, after a cruel reign of 
twenty-two and a half years. It 
was in the fourteenth year of 
his reign that John the Baptist 
first appeared ; and the crucifix- 



ion of Jesus took place in the 
third or fourth year alter. Luke 
3:1. 

TIGLATH-PILESER, king 
of Assyria, was invited by Ahaz, 
king of Judah, to aid him against 
the kings of Syria and Israel. 
2 K. 16:7, &c. This he did, 
but exacted also a heavy tribute 
from Ahaz, so as to distress him 
without helping him. 2 Chr. 
28 : 20,21. From the kingdom of 
Israel, also, he carried off the in- 
habitants of many cities captive, 
and placed them in various parts 
of his kingdom. 1 Chr. 5:26. 
2 K. 15:29. He reigned nine- 
teen years at Nineveh, and was 
succeeded by his son Shalma- 
neser. 

TIMBREL, an instrument of 
music, often mentioned in Scrip- 
ture. The Hebrews called it 
toph, under which name they 
comprehended all kinds of drums, 
tabors and timbrels. We do not 
find that the Hebrews used it in 
their wars, but only at their pub- 
lic rejoicings ; and it was com- 
monly employed by the women. 
It consisted, and still consists, of 
a small rim, over which a skin 
is drawn. The rim is also hung 
with small bells. The timbrel is 
used as an accompaniment to 
lively music, being shaken and 
beaten with the knuckles in time. 
After the passage of the Red 
sea, Miriam, sister of Moses, 
took a timbrel, and began to 
play and dance with the women. 
Ex. 15:20. The daughter of 
Jephthah came to meet her fa- 
ther with timbrels and other musi- 
cal instruments. Judg. 11:34. 

TIMOTHY, a disciple of 
Paul. He was of Derbe or 
Lystra, both cities of Lycaonia. 
Acts 16:1. 14:6. His father 
was a Gentile, but his mother a 
Jewess. 2 Tim. 1:5. 3:15. 
When Paul came to Derbe and 



TIP 



[341 ] 



TOP 



Lystra, about A. D. 51, or 52, 
the brethren spoke highly of the 
merit and good disposition of 
Timothy ; and the apostle deter- 
mined to take him along with 
him, for which purpose he cir- 
cumcised him at Lystra. Acts 16 : 
3. Timothy applied himself to 
labor in the gospel, and did Paul 
very important services, through 
the whole course of his preach- 
ing. Paul calls him not only 
his dearly beloved son, but also 
his brother, the companion of his 
labors, and a man of God; ob- 
serving that none was more unit- 
ed with him in heart and mind 
than Timothy. Indeed, he was 
selected by Paul as his chosen 
companion in his journeys, and 
was left by him for a time at 
Ephesus, to continue and perfect 
the work which Paul had begun 
in that city. He appears to have 
possessed in a very high degree 
the confidence and affection of 
Paul, and is therefore often men- 
tioned by him in terms of warm 
commendation. Acts 16:1. 17: 
14,15. 18:5. 19:22. 20:4. 

Paul wrote two Epistles to 
Timothy, which still make part 
of the N. T. and are most valua- 
ble and instructive documents 
for the direction and admonition 
of every Christian, and more 
especially of ministers of the 
gospel. 

TIN is the word commonly 
employed in the Scriptures to 
designate the metal tin, as in 
Num. 31:22. But in Isa. 1:25, 
the Hebrew word is put for 
dross, or that which is separated 
by smelting ; and here our trans- 
lators have also improperly re- 
tained the word tin. 

T1PHSAH, the ancient Thap- 
sacus, an important city on the 
western bank of the Euphrates, 
which constituted the north-east- 
ern extremity of Solomon's do- 
29* 



minions. There was here a cel- 
ebrated ford or ferry over the 
Euphrates, IK. 4:24. Perhaps 
the same city is meant 2 K. 15: 
16 ; though some understand 
here a city of the same name near 
Samaria. 

TIRHAKAH, king of Ethio- 
pia, or Gush, bordering on Pales- 
tine and Egypt. This prince, at 
the head of a powerful arm}', at- 
tempted to relieve Hezekiah, 
when attacked by Sennacherib, 
2 K. 19 : 9, but the Assyrian 
army was routed before he came 
up. 

TIRZAH, {pleasant,) a city of 
Ephraim, and the royal seat of 
the kings of Israel, from the 
time of Jeroboam to the reign 
of Omri, who built the city of 
Samaria, which then became the 
capital of this kingdom. Josh. 
12:24. 2 K. 15:14,16. 

TITHES, seeTYTHES. 

TITUS, a Christian teacher, 
probably of pagan origin, who 
was a companion and fellow 
laborer of Paul. In 2 Tim. 4 : 
10, Paul speaks of him as 
having gone to Dalmatia; and 
in Tit. 1:5, he assigns the reason 
of his leaving Titus in Crete, 
viz. to perfect the work which 
Paul had there begun, and 
to establish and regulate the 
churches. The more particular 
accounts which are given of his 
journey to Dalmatia, and of his 
residence in Crete, as bishop of 
the island, where he is said to 
have died at the age of 92, rest 
upon no certain authority. 2 Cor. 
2:12. 7:6. 

The Epistle of Paul to Titus 
is similar in its contents to the 
first Epistle to Timothy, and was 
very probably written about the 
same time. 

TOMB, see Sepulchre. 

TOPAZ, a gem of a green 
color, called by the moderns 



TRE 



[ 342 ] 



TRO 



chrysolite, and different from the 
modern topaz. Rev. 21 : 20. 
See Chrysolite. 

TOPHET, the same as the 
Valley of Hinnom ; which see. 

TORTOISE. Lev. 11:29, a 
class of animals strongly allied 
to the reptile kinds. The He- 
brew word, however, does not 
signify a tortoise, but a species 
of lizard. 

TRACHONITIS, (rocky, or 
rugged,) a province between Pal- 
estine and Syria, having Arabia 
Deserta east, Batanea west, Itu- 
rea south, and the country of 
Damascus north. Josephus says, 
it is situate between Palestine 
and Ccelo-Syria, and was peo- 
pled by Hush, or Cush, a son of 
Aram. Of this province Herod 
Philip was letrarch. Luke 3:1. 

TRADITION, a sentiment or 
custom not written, but delivered 
down by succession. The Jews 
had numerous traditions, which 
they did not commit to writing, 
before their wars against the 
Romans, under Adrian and Se- 
verus. Then rabbi Judah the 
Holy composed the Mishna, 
that is, the second law ; which is 
the most ancient collection of 
Jewish traditions. To this were 
added the Gemara of Jerusalem, 
and that of Babylon, which, to- 
gether with the Mishna, form the 
Talmud of Jerusalem, and that 
of Babylon. Our Saviour often 
censured the false traditions of 
the Pharisees ; and reproached 
them with preferring these to the 
law itself. Mark 7:7, &c. Matt. 
15:2,3, &c. He gives several 
instances of their superstitious 
adherence to vain observances, 
while they neglected essential 
things. 

TRESPASS is an offence 
committed, a hurt, or wrong 
done, to another person. Under 
the law, the delinquent who had 



trespassed was of course bound 
to make satisfaction ; but an of- 
fering or oblation was allowed 
him, to reconcile himself to the 
Divine Governor. Lev. 5:6,15. 

TRIBE. Jacob having twelve 
sons, who were heads of so many 
families, which together formed a 
great nation, each of these fami- 
lies was called a tribe. But this 
patriarch on his death-bed adopt- 
ed Ephraim and Manasseh, the 
two sons of Joseph, and would 
have them also to constitute two 
tribes in Israel. Gen. 48:5. In- 
stead of twelve tribes, there 
were now thirteen, that of Jo- 
seph being two. However, in 
the distribution of lands by Josh- 
ua, under the order of God, they 
reckoned but twelve tribes, and 
made but twelve lots. For the 
tribe of Levi, being appointed to 
the sacred service, had no share 
in the distribution of the land 5 
but received certain cities to 
dwell in, with the first-fruits, 
tithes and oblations of the peo- 
ple. In the division made by 
Joshua of the land of Canaan, 
Reuben, Gad and half of Manas- 
seh had their lot beyond Jordan, 
east ; all the other tribes, and 
the remaining half of Manasseh, 
had their distribution on this side 
the river, west. 

The twelve tribes continued 
united as one state, one people 
and one monarchy, till after the 
death of Solomon, when ten of 
the tribes revolted from the house 
of David, and formed the king- 
dom of Israel. See Hebrews. 

TROAS, a maritime town or 
city of Mysia, situated on the 
western coast, at some distance to 
the southward of the supposed site 
of ancient Troy. The adjacent 
region, including all the coast 
south of the Hellespont, is also 
called Troas, or the Troad. 
Acts 16:8,11. 20:5,6. 



TRU 



[ 343 ] 



TYP 



TROGYLLIUM, the name of 
a town and promontory of Ionia, 
in Asia Minor, between Ephesus 
and the mouth of the river Mean- 
der, opposite to Samos. The 
promontory is a spur of mount 
Mvcale. Acts 20: 15. 

TROPHIMUS, a disciple of 
Paul, a Gentile by religion, and 
an Ephesian by birth, came to 
Corinth with the apostle, and ac- 
companied him in his whole jour- 
ney to Jerusalem, A. D. 58. Acts 
20 : 4. When the apostle was in 
the temple there, the Jews laid 
hold of him, crying out, " He 
hath brought Greeks into the 
temple, and hath polluted this 
holy place," because, havingseen 
him in the city, accompanied by 
Trophimus, they imagined that 
he had introduced him into the 
temple. Some years afterwards, 
we find him sick at Miletus, 
2 Tim. 4:20, but nothing further 
is known respecting him. 

TRUMPET. The Lord com- 
manded Moses to make two 
trumpets of beaten silver, for the 
purpose of calling the people to- 
gether when they were to de- 
camp. Num. 10 : 2. They chiefly 
used these trumpets, however, to 
proclaim the beginning of the 
civil year, the beginning of the 
sabbatical year, Lev. 23:24. 
Num. 29:1, and the beginning 
of the jubilee. Lev. 25:9,10. 

The Feast of Trumpets was 
kept on the first day of the sev- 
enth month of the sacred year, 
which was the first of the civil 
year, called Tizri. The begin- 
ning of the year was proclaimed 
by sound of trumpet, Lev. 23 : 
24. Num. 29:1; and the day 
was kept solemn ; all servile 
business being forbidden. A sol- 
emn holocaust was offered in the 
name of the whole nation, of a 
calf, two rams, and seven lambs 
of the same year, with offerings 



of flour and wine, as usual with 
these sacrifices. Scripture does 
not mention the occasion of ap- 
pointing this feast. 

TURTLE-DOVE, or Tur- 
tle, a clean bird often mention- 
ed in Scripture, and which the 
Jews might offer in sacrifice. It 
was appointed in favor of the 
poor, who could not afford more 
substantial sacrifices, Lev. 12 : 
6—8. 14:22. Luke 2:24. Before 
the law, Abraham offered birds, 
which were a turtle and a pigeon ; 
and when he divided the other 
victims he left the birds entire. 
Gen. 15:9. 

TYCHICUS, a disciple em- 
ployed by the apostle Paul to 
carry his letters to several 
churches. He was of the prov- 
ince of Asia, and accompanied 
Paul in his journey from Corinth 
to Jerusalem. Acts 20:4. He 
carried the Epistle to the Colos- 
sians. that to the Ephesians, and 
the first to Timothy. The apostle 
calls him his dear brother, a 
faithful minister of the Lord, 
and his companion in the ser- 
viceofGod, Eph. 6:21,22. Col. 
4:7,8; and had intentions of 
sending him into Crete, to pre- 
side there in the absence of Ti- 
tus. Tit. 3: 12. 

TYPE is a Greek word which 
generally signifies a resembla ce, 
however it may be produced. 
Thus, Acts 7 : 44, Moses was 
to make the tabernacle accord- 
ing to the type, model, exemplar, 
he had seen. A t}-pe is. hew- 
ever, more usually considered 
as an example, pattern or gen- 
eral similitude of a person, event 
or thing which is to come ; and 
in this it differs from a repre- 
sentation, memorial or com- 
memoration of an event which is 
past. For instance, the ceremo- 
ny of the passover among the 
Jews, with its bitter herbs, its 



TYR 






TYR 



lamb slain, &c. was a commem- 
oration, or memorial repetition 
of what their fathers had origi- 
nally transacted at their exodus 
from Egypt. The lamb of the 
passover was a victim which 
procured exemption from evil 5 
and in this light we may regard 
it as the type of a nobler Deliv- 
erer, who hath wrought for us a 
far greater deliverance from the 
moral tyranny of sin, than that 
of the Israelites was from the 
oppressive dominion of Pharaoh 5 
which deliverance is accom- 
plished by the blood of " the 
Lamb of God, which takcthaway 
the sins of the world." Indeed, 
most, if not all, the sacred insti- 
tutions among- the Jews were 
prefigurative hints or notices of 
what was to happen under a more 
perfect dispensation. Hence a 
sacrifice, the blood of which was 
shed before the ark, or other 
symbolical presence of God, pre- 
figured a more noble, more digni- 
fied blood, which should be shed 
before God at some future time ; 
that as such blood was shed to 
reconcile man and God, to medi- 
ate between those otherwise dis- 
tant parties, so the nobler blood 
should mediate, with unlimited 
success, in restoring amity be- 
tween God and man. 

TYRANNUS, the name of a 
person at Ephesus, in whose 
house or school Paul publicly 
proposed and defended the doc- 
trines of the gospel. Acts 19:9. 
By some he is thought to have 
been a Greek sophist ; while 
others suppose him to have been 
a Jewish doctor or rabbi, who 
had a public school. 

TYRE, the celebrated empo- 
rium of Phoenicia, the seat of 
immense wealth and power, situ- 
ated on the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean, within the limits of the 
tribe of Asher, as assigned by 



Joshua. Josh. 19:29. Tyre is 
mentioned by neither Moses nor 
Homer ; but from the time of 
David onward, reference is fre- 
quently made to it in the books of 
the O. T. There was a close alli- 
ance between David and Hiram, 
king of Tyre, which was after- 
wards continued in the reign 
of Solomon 3 and it was from 
the assistance afforded by the 
Tyrians, both in artificers and 
materials, that the house of Da- 
vid, and afterwards the temple, 
were principally built. 2 Sam. 5 : 
11. IK. 5:1, &c. 1 Chr. 14:1, 
&c. 2Chr. 2:3. 9:10. The in- 
habitants of Tvre are represent- 
ed in the O/T. as filled with 
pride and luxury, and all the 
vices attendant on prosperity 
and immense wealth ; and judg- 
ments are denounced against 
them in consequence of their 
idolatry and wickedness 5 and 
the destruction of their city by 
Nebuchadnezzar is foretold ; 
which is also described as ac- 
complished, Isa. 23:13. Ez. 26 : 
7. 28:1—19. 29 :18. After 
this destruction, as it would 
seem, the great body of the in- 
habitants fixed themselves on an 
island opposite the former city, 
about thirty stadia from the 
main land, where they erected 
■ another city. This also soon be- 
| came opulent and powerful ; and 
1 was fortified with such strength, 
and possessed resources so abun- 
dant, as to be able to withstand 
the utmost efforts of Alexander 
the Great for the space of seven 
months. It was at length taken 
by him in 332 B. C. After many 
subsequent reverses of fortune, 
and various changes of masters, 
Tyre at last fell under the domin- 
ion of the Romans, and continued 
to enjoy its commercial prosperi- 
ty. At present, Tyre is a walled 
village, standing on a peninsula, 



UL A 



[345] 



UNI 



which was formerly an island. 
It is surrounded by the scattered 
remnants of its former greatness. 
Matt. 11:21,22. 15:21. Acts 21 : 
3,7. See Miss. Herald, 1824, p. 
1G0, 277. 305. 

TYTHES. We have nothing 
more ancient concerning' tythes, 
than what is read Gen. 14:20, 
that Abraham gave tythes to 
Melchizedec, king of Salem, of 
all the booty he had taken from 
the enemy. Jacob imitated this 
piety of his grandfather, when he 
vowed to the Lord the tythe of 
all the substance he might ac- 
quire in Mesopotamia. Gen. 28 : 
22. Under the law, Moses or- 
dained, "All the tythe of the 
land, whether of the seed of the 
land, or of the fruit of the tree, 
is the Lord's ; it is holy unto the 
Lord. And if a man will at all 
redeem aught of his tythes, he 
shall add thereto the fifth part 
thereof. And concerning the 
tythe of the herd, or of the flock, 
even of whatsoever passeth un- 
der the rod, the tenth shall be 
holy unto the Lord." Lev. 27 : 
30—32. 

Tythes are not enforced by the 
N. T. Our Saviour has com- 
manded nothing as to the sup- j 
port of ministers ; only, when he- 
sent his apostles to preach in the 
cities of Israel, he forbade them 
to carry either purse, or pro- 
visions, and commanded them 
to enter the houses of those who 
were willing: to receive them, 



and to eat what should be set 
before them ; for, as he adds, 
the laborer is worthy of his hire, 
that is, of his maintenance. Matt. 
10:10. Luke 10:7. Paul also 
determines, that he who receives 
instruction, should administer 
some of his good things to him 
who gives it. Gal. 6:6. It is 
agreeable to nature and reason, 
that they who wait at the altar 
should live by the altar; and 
who ever undertook a warfare at 
his own expense ? 1 Cor. 9 : 13. 
In the infancy of the church, the 
ministers lived on the alms and 
oblations of believers. After- 
wards, lands and fixed revenues 
were settled on churches and 
their ministers, and people be- 
gan to give them a certain por- 
tion of their substance, which 
was called tythe, in imitation of 
that paid to the priests of the 
old covenant, though every one 
gave only as his devotion in- 
clined him. At last, the bish- 
ops, in concurrence with secular 
princes, made laws obliging 
Christians to give to ecclesiastics 
the tythe of their revenues, and 
of the fruits of the earth. As 
these regulations were not all 
made at the same time, nor in a 
uniform manner, we cannot pre- 
cisely fix the period of the 
establishment of tythes. But 
they were paid as far back as 
the sixth century ; though not 
every where, nor under the 
same obligations. 



U. 



ULAI, a river which ran by the 
city Shushan, in Persia, on the 
bank of which Daniel had a fa- 
mous vision. Dan. 8: 2,16. It was 
the Choaspes of the Greeks, and 
is now called Kerrah. It empties 



its waters into the united stream 
of the Euphrates and Tigris. 

UNICORN. It is hardly 
necessary to remark, that the 
unicorn, as represented by poets 
and painters, has never been 



UN 



[346] 



UNI 



found in nature, and never, per- 
haps, had an existence but in the 
imagination of the one, and on the 
canvass of the other. Still, how- 
ever, the ancients have given us 
accounts of such an animal ; and 
these have been repeated also by 
travellers in modern times. Very 
definite accounts were transmit- 
ted from the cape of Good Hope, 
about 1790, of the existence of an 
animal like a zebra, with one horn; 
and, in 1820, similar statements 
were made from India, where 
such an animal was said to exist 
in Thibet. But all these rested on 
the authority of natives or peas- 
ants, and have never yet been 
confirmed. At any rate, they do 
not seem to refer to any animal 
ever known to the Jews. All 
these accounts may be seen at 
large in the octavo edition of 
Calmet, p. 907, &c. 

The Hebrew word reem, im- 
properly translated unicorn, has 
been by some supposed to mean 
a species of antelope ; b}' others, 
the rhinoceros. Neither of these 
suppositions is tenable. It is 
every where represented as an 
animal which pushes with its 
horns, and which has many other 
traits in common with the com- 
mon bull or ox. Deut. 33:17. 
Ps. 92:10. Num. 23:22. 24:8. 
Ps. 22:21. 29:6. Job 39:9—12. 
Isa. 34:7. The most probable 
supposition, therefore, is, that 
under the reem we are to under- 
stand the buffalo of the eastern 
continent, the bos bubalus of Lin- 
naeus, which differs from the bi- 
son or American buffalo chiefly 
in the shape of the horns and the 
absence of the dewlap. This 
animal is indigenous, originally, 
in the hotter parts of Asia and 
Africa, but also in Persia, Abys- 
sinia and Egypt 5 and is now 
also naturalized in Italy and 
southern Europe. As, therefore, 



it existed' in the countries all 
around Palestine, there is every 
reason to suppose that it was 
also found in that country, or at 
least in the regions east of the 
Jordan and south of the Dead 
sea, as Bashan and Idumea. 

The oriental buffalo appears 
to be so closely allied to our com- 
mon ox, that, without an atten- 
tive examination, it might be easi- 
ly mistaken for a variety of that 
animal. In point of size, it is 
rather superior to the ox ; and 
upon an accurate inspection, it is 
observed to differ in the shape 
and magnitude of the head, the 
latter being larger than in the ox. 
But it is chiefly by the structure 
of the horns that the buffalo is 
distinguished, these being of a 
shape and curvature altogether 
different from those of the ox. 
They are of gigantic size in pro- 
portion to the bulk of the animal, 
and of a compressed form, with 
a sharp exterior edge ; for a con- 
siderable length from their base, 
these horns are straight, and then 
bend slightly upwards ; the pre- 
vailing color of them is dusky, 
or nearly black. The oriental 
buffalo has no dewlap ; his tail is 
small, and destitute of vertebra? 
near the extremity 5 his ears are 
long and pointed. This animal 
has the appearance of uncom- 
mon strength. The bulk of his 
body, and prodigious muscular 
limbs, denote his force at the 
first view. His aspect is fero- 
cious and malignant ; at the 
same time that his physiognomy 
is strongly marked with features 
of stupidity. His head is of a 
ponderous size ; his eyes diminu- 
tive 5 and what serves to render 
his visage still more savage, are 
the tufts of frizzled hair which 
hang down from his cheeks and 
the lower part of his muzzle. 

Wild buffaloes occur in man} 



UNI 



[347] 



UNI 



parts of Africa and India, where 
they live in great troops in the 
forests, and are regarded as ex- 
cessively fierce and dangerous 
animals. In all these particulars 
they coincide with the buffaloes 
of America. The hunting of 
them is a favorite but very dan- 
gerous pursuit ; the hunters never 
venture in any numbers to op- 
pose these ferocious animals face 
to face ; but conceal themselves 
in the thickets, or in the branches 
of the trees ; whence they attack 
the buffaloes as they pass along. 

In Egypt, as also in southern 
Europe, the buffalo has been par- 
tially domesticated. In Egypt, 
especially, it is much employed, 
where it yields plenty of excel- 
lent milk, from which butter and 
various kinds of cheese are made. 

"The buffalo," says Sonnini, 
" is an acquisition of the modern 
Egyptians, with which their an- 
cestors were unacquainted. It 
is more numerous than the com- 
mon ox, and is there equally do- 
mestic, though but recently do- 
mesticated 5 as is easily distin- 
guishable by the constantly uni- 
form color of the hair, and still 
more by a remnant of ferocity 
and intractability of disposition, 
and a wild and lowering aspect, 
the characters of all half-tamed 
animals. The buffaloes of Egypt, 
however, are not near so wild 
nor so much to be feared as those 
of other countries. They there 
partake of the gentleness of other 
domesticated animals, and only 
retain a few sudden and occa- 
sional caprices. They are so 
fond of water, that I have seen 
them continue in it a whole day. 
It often happens that the water 
which is fetched from the Nile, 
near its banks, has contracted 
their musky smell. 

These animals multiply more 
readily than common cattle. 



Their term of life is much the 
same as that of the common ox. 
They are more robust than this 
latter animal, better capable of 
bearing fatigue, and, generally 
speaking, less liable to distem- 
pers. They are, therefore, em- 
ployed to advantage in different 
kinds of labor. Buffaloes are 
made to draw heavy loads, and 
are commonly guided by means 
of a ring passed through the nose. 
In its habits, the buffalo is much 
less cleanly than the ox, and de- 
lights to wallow in the mud. His 
voice is deeper, more uncouth and 
hideous, than that of the bull. 

Italy is the country where buf- 
faloes are, at present, most com- 
mon, perhaps, in a domesticated 
state. They are used more par- 
ticularly in the Pontine marshes, 
and those in the district of Sien- 
na, where the fatal nature of the 
climate acts unfavorably on com- 
mon cattle, but affects the buffa- 
loes less. The Spaniards, also, 
have paid attention to them ; and, 
indeed, the employment of this 
useful animal seems to be pretty 
general in all the countries bor- 
dering on the Mediterranean sea, 
both in Europe and Africa. Nie- 
buhr remarks, that he saw buffa- 
loes not only in Egypt, but also 
at Bombay, Surat, on the Eu- 
phrates, Tigris, Orontes, at 
Scanderoon, &c. and indeed in 
almost all marshy regions and 
near large rivers. He does not 
remember any in Arabia, there 
being perhaps in that country too 
little water for this animal. 

All these and other notices ^o 
to show that the oriental buffalo 
has been partially domesticated 
only at a comparativelv recent 
period ; and that the Hebrews, 
therefore, were probabl v acquaint- 
ed with it only as a wild, savage, 
ferocious animal, resembling the 
ox j and it was not improbably 



VEI 



[348] 



VEI 



often intended by them under 
the epithet xoild bulls of Bashan. 

UR, the country of Terah, 
and the birth-place of Abraham, 
Gen. 11 :28; but its precise situa- 
tion is unknown. It is called 
Ur of the Chaldtes ; and by the 
Seventy, country or region of 
the Chaldees. Traces of it most 
probably remain in the Persian 
fortress Ur, between Nesibis and 
the Tigris, mentioned by Ammi- 
anus. 

URIM and THUMMIM, {light 
and -perfection, or doctrine and 
judgment,) Ex. 28 : 30. Lev. 8:8, 
is supposed to have been an or- 
nament in the high-priest's habit, 
which was consulted as an ora- 
cle upon particular and difficult 
public questions. Some think it 
was the precious stones in his 
breast-plate, which made known 
the divine will by casting an ex- 
traordinary lustre. Others assert 
that they were the words mani- 
festation and truth, written upon 
two precious stones, or upon a 
plate of gold. Various, in fact, 
are the conjectures upon this sub- 
ject, and Moses has, no where 
spoken of the Urim and Thum- 
mim in such terms as to remove 
the difficulty. When the Urim 
and Thummim was to be consult- 
ed, the high-priest put on his 
robes, and, going into the holy 
place, stood before the curtain 



that separated the holy place 
from the most holy place, and 
then, turning his face directly to- 
ward the ark and the mercy-seat, 
upon which the divine presence 
rested, he proposed what he 
desired to have resolved. 

USURY, as employed in our 
version of the Bible, means 
only interest. When the trans- 
lation was made, this word had 
not assumed the bad sense which 
it now has. 

UZ, the land in which Job 
dwelt. The Seventy call it Au- 
sitis. It appears to have been a 
region in the northern part of 
desert Arabia, between Pales- 
tine, Idumea, and the Euphrates ; 
and most probably not far from 
the borders of Idumea. 

UZZAH, a man whom the 
Lord slew, while driving the 
cart on which the ark was con- 
veyed from Kirjath-jearim to 
Jerusalem. He was slain be- 
cause he laid hold of the ark 
when the stumbling of the oxen 
shook it. The whole proceeding 
seems to have displeased the 
Lord, because by the law none 
but the Levites might carry or 
touch the ark. 2 Sam. c. 6. 
Compare 1 Chr. c. 13. c. 15: 
2,13. 

UZZIAH, or Azariah, king* 
of Judah. See Azariah. 



V. 



VEIL, a kind of scarf or man- 
tle, with which females in the 
East cover the face and head. 

In the history of Abimelech and 
Sarah, Gen. 20: 16, the veil is by 
6ome supposed to be described by 
the circumlocution of " a cover- 
ing to the eyes." But the phrase 
" covering to the eyes" refers 



evidently to the money given by 
Abimelech, viz. the thousand 
pieces of silver, which were to 
be a covering to the eyes of oth- 
ers, i. e. an atoning present, a 
testimony of her innocence in the 
eyes of all. (See Abimelech.) 
There is also a kind of garment 
mentioned in Ruth 3:15. and 



VIN 



[ 349 ] 



VIN 



there translated veil, which, by 
the expression of Boaz, it should 
seem, Ruth wore upon her per- 
son. It appears also not to have 
been very large, as Ituth held it 
open, to receive six measures of 
barley. Besides, as she carried 
this quantity, it could not have 
been extremely heavy, and yet 
it is most likely Boaz nearly or 
altogether filled it. This, of 
course, could not have been a 
fine transparent veil 5 but was 
more probably some kind of or- 
namental shawl or garment. See 
Wimple. 

Another Hebrew word, render- 
ed veil in the English version, 
seems properly to denote a fine 
upper garment or mantle, which 
females were accustomed to 
throw over their other garments 
when they went out. Cant. 5:7. 
Isa. 3:23.— The Greek word 
which is translated power in 1 
Cor. 11:10, seems there more 
properly to be put for emblem of 
power or of honor and dignity, 
i. e. a veil. This, Paul says, 
should be worn by females in the 
churches, on account of the an- 
gels. Who are these ? Some 
say, the angels of the churches, 
i. "e. the bishops ; others, better, 
the messengers, i. e. spies, of the 
heathen, evil-minded persons, 
who frequented the assemblies in 
order to spy out irregularities. 
Others, still, take angels in the 
usual sense, and consider Paul 
as representing the angels of 
heaven as beholding with deep 
interest the devotions of Christian 
assemblies. See Angel. 

VETCHES, see Fitches. 

VIALS, see Censer. 

VINE. Of this valuable and 
well-known plant there are sev- 
eral species, and there are many 
references to it in the sacred 
writings. It grew plentifully in 
Palestine, and was particularly 
30 



fine in some of the districts. The 
Scriptures celebrate the vines of 
Sibmah and Eshcol 5 and pro- 
fane authors mention the excel- 
lent wines of Gaza, Sarepta, 
Libanus, Sharon, Ascalon and 
Tyre. The grapes of Egypt 
being particularly small, we 
may easily conceive of the sur- 
prise which was occasioned to 
the Israelites by witnessing the 
bunch of grapes brought by the 
spies to the camp, from the val- 
ley of Eshcol. Numb. 13:23. 
The account of Moses, however, 
is confirmed by the testimony of 
several travellers. At the present 
day, although the Mohammedan 
religion does not favor the culti- 
vation of the vine, there is no 
want of vineyards in Palestine. 
Besides the large quantities of 
grapes and raisins which are 
daily sent to the markets of Je- 
rusalem and other neighboring 
places, Hebron alone, in the first 
half of the eighteenth centur}\ an- 
nually sent three hundred camel 
loads, that is, nearly three hun- 
dred thousand weight of grape 
juice, or honey of raisins, to 
Egypt. 

In the East, grapes enter very 
largely into the provisions at an 
entertainment. Thus Norden 
was treated by the aga of Es- 
suan with coffee, and some 
bunches of giaj.es of an excel- 
lent taste. To show the abun- 
dance of vines which should fall 
to the lot of Judah in the parti- 
tion of the promised land, Ja- 
cob, in his prophetic benediction, 
says of this tribe, he shall be 
found — 

Binding his colt to the vine, 

And to the choice vine the foal 

of his ass — 
Washing his garments in wine, 
His clothes in the blood of the 

grape. 

Gen. 49:11 



VIN 



[ 350 ] 



VIN 



The law enjoined that he who 
planted a vine should not eat of 
the produce of it before the fifth 
year. Lev. 19; 23— 25. Nor 
did they gather their grapes on 
the seventh year ; the fruit was 
>lhen left for the poor, the orphan 
and the stranger. A traveller 
was permitted to gather and eat 
grapes in a vineyard, as he pass- 
ed along, but was not permitted 
to carry any away. Deut. 23:24. 

The vine of Sodom, Deut. 
"32:32, is used -to express figura- 
tively a degenerate condition; 
and seems to designate a de- 
generate species of vine, exist- 
ing, or supposed to exist, in the 
region around the Dead sea; 
like the famed apples of Sodom, 
said to be beautiful without, but 
full of ashes within. 

For the icild grapes in Isa. 5 : 
2,4, see under Grapes. 

The Jews planted their vine- 
yards most commonly on the 
south side of a hill or mountain, 
the stones being gathered out, 
and the space hedged round with 
thorns, or walled. Isa. 5:1 — 6. 
Ps. 80, and Matt. 21:33. A 
good vineyard consisted of a 
thousand vines, and produced a 
Tent of a thousand silverlings, 
or shekels of silver. Isa. 7:23. 
It required two hundred more to 
pay the dressers. Cant. 8:11, 
12. In these, the keepers and 
vine-dressers labored, digging, 
planting, pruning and propping - 
the vines, gathering the grapes 
and making wine. This was at 
once a laborious task, and often 
reckoned a base one. 2 K. 25: 12. 
Cant. 1:6. Isa. 61:5. The 
vines with the tender grapes 
gave a good smell early in the 
spring, Cant. 2:13; as we learn 
also from Isa. 18:5, before the 
liarvest, that is, the barley-har- 
vest, when the bud is perfect, and 
the sour grape is ripening in the 



flower. In every vineyard was 
a small hut or house, where a 
watchman was stationed during 
the time of ripe grapes ; but which 
was after wards deserted. Isa. 1:8. 

The vintage followed the 
wheat harvest and the thresh- 
ing, Lev. 26 ;5. Amos 9:13; 
about June or July, when the 
clusters of the grapes were gath- 
ered with a sickle, and put into 
baskets, Jer. 6:9, carried and 
thrown into the wine-vat, or 
wine-press, where they were 
probably first trodden by men, 
and then pressed. Rev. 14:18 
— 20. It is mentioned as a mark 
of the great work and power of 
the Messiah, that he had trodden 
the figurative wine-press alone, 
and of the people there was 
none with him. Isa. 63:3. Rev. 
19 : 15. The vintage was a sea- 
sou of great mirth. Of the juice 
of the squeezed grapes were 
formed wine and vinegar. 

The wines of Canaan, being 
very heady, were generally mix- 
ed with water for common use, 
as among the Italians ; and they 
sometimes scented them with 
frankincense, myrrh, calamus 
and other spices, Prov. 9:2,5. 
Cant. 8:2; they also scented 
them with pomegranates, or 
made wine of their juice as we 
do of the juice of currants, 
gooseberries, &c. fermented with 
sugar. Wine is best when old, 
and on the lees, the dregs having 
sunk to the bottom. Isa. 25:6. 
Sweet wine is that which is made 
from grapes fully ripe. Isa. 49 : 
26. The Israelites had two kinds 
of vinegar ; the one was a weak 
wine, which they used for their 
common drink in the harvest 
field, Ruth 2:14, as the Span- 
iards and Italians still do ; and 
it was probably of this that Solo- 
mon was to furnish twenty thou- 
sand baths to IJiram for his ser- 



VIN 



[351 ] 



VOW 



t 



vants, the hewers that cut tim- 
ber in Lebanon. 2 Chr. 2:10. 
It was this weak wine, probably, 
which the soldiers offered to Je- 
sus on the cross. (See Gall.) 
The other vinegar had a sharp 
acid taste, like ours ; and hence 
Solomon hints, that a sluggard 
hurts and vexes such as employ 
him in business, as vinegar is 
disagreeable to the teeth, and 
smoke to the eyes, Prov. 10:26; 
and as vinegar poured upon 
nitre spoils its virtue, so he that 
singeth songs to a heavy heart, 
does but add to his grief, c. 25 : 
20. The poor were allowed to 
glean grapes, as well as corn, 
and other articles, Lev. 19:10. 
Deut. 24:21. Mic. 7:1; and 
we learn that the gleaning of 
the grapes of Ephraim was bet- 
ter than the vintage of Abiezer. 
Judg. 8:2. 

The vessels in which the wine 
was kept were probably, fof the 
most part, bottles, which were 
usually made of leather, or goat- 
skins, firmly sewed together and 
pitched. (See Bottles.) The 
Arabs pull off the skin from goats 
in the same manner that we do 
fromrabbits,andsewup the places 
where the legs and tail were cut j 
off, leaving- one for the neck of | 
the bottle, to pour from ; and in 
such bags they put up and carry, 
not only their liquors, but dry 
things which are not apt to be 
broken ; by which means they are 
well preserved from wet, dust, or 
insects. These would, in time, 
crack and wear out. Hence, 
when the Gibeonites came to 
Joshua, pretending- that they 
came from a far country, amongst 
other things they brought wine- 
bottles, old and rent, and bound 
up where they had leaked. Josh. 
9:4,13. Thus, too, it was not 
expedient to put new wine into 
old bottles, because the fermenta- 



tion of it would break or crack 
the bottles. Matt. 9 : 17. 

Grapes were also dried into- 
raisins. A part of Abigail's 
present to David, was 100 clus- 
ters of raisins, 1 Sam. 25:18 j 
and when Ziba met D?»v : J, his 
present contained the sen" e quan- 
tity. 2 Sam. 16 : 1. 1 &,m. 30 : 
12. 1 Chr. 12:40. 

VINEGAR, see ViN2, near 
the end. and Myrrh. 

VINEYARD, see Vine. 

VIPER, a genus of serpent,, 
noted for the venom of its bite, 
which is said to impart one of 
the most dangerous poisons in 
the animal kingdom. There are 
a great variety of species of this 
serpent, some of which are more 
venomous than others. Hassel- 
quist says, " I saw two kinds of 
vipers at Cyprus ; one, called 
aspic, of which it is said, that it 
contains a venom so penetrating 
as to produce a universal gan- 
grene, of which a man dies in a 
few hours ; and that, the better to. 
catch his prey, it takes the color 
of the ground on which it lies. 
They said of the other, that it has. 
a great antipathy to the former,, 
and destroys it ; that they eat 
one another ; and that they feed 
on larks, sparrows, &c." See 
under Inchantments. 

VISION, a supernatural pre- 
sentation of eer tain scenery or cir- 
cumstances to the mind of a per- 
son, while awake. See Dream. 

VOLUME, see Book. 

VOW, a promise made to God 
of doingsome good thing here- 
after. The use of vows is ob- 
servable throughout Scripture. 
Jacob, going into Mesopotamia, 
vowed the tenth of his estate, 
and promised to offer it at Beth- 
el, to the honor of God. Gen. 
28,22. Moses enacted several 
laws for the regulation and exe- 
cution of vows. A man might 



WEI 



[ 332 ] 



WEL 



devote himself or his children to 
the Lord. Jephthah devoted his 
daughter, Judg. 11:30, &c. and 
Samuel was vowed and conse- 
crated to the service of the Lord. 
1 Sam. 1 :22, &c. If a man or 
woman vowed themselves to the 
Lord, they were obliged to ad- 
here strictly to his service, ac- 
cording - to the conditions of the 
vow; but in some cases they 
might be redeemed. Lev. 27:3, 



&c. See Nazarites, and also 
Corban. 

VULGATE is the name of 
the Latin version of the Scrip- 
tures, used by the church of 
Rome. 

VULTURE, a large bird of 
prey, belonging to the genus 
hawks, and including a great 
many species. It is pronounced 
unclean by Moses. Lev. 11 : 14 
Dent 14:13. See Birds. 



W. 



WAFER, in Scripture, a thin 
cake of fine flour, which was used 
in various offerings, anointed 
with oil. Ex. 29: 2,23. Lev. 2:4. 
7:12. Num. 6:15. 

WASHING of Feet, see un- 
der Foot, and also Sandals. 

WATCH, a division of the 
night. See under Hours. 

WATER, see Welds, and 
Cistern. 

WEDDING, see Marriage. 

WEEK. The Jews were ac- 
customed, instead of the term 
week, to make use of the expres- 
sion eight days ; just as the Ger- 
mans do at the present day ; and 
just as we also say fortnigJd 
(i. e. fourteen nights) instead of 
two weeks. This remark serves 
to illustrate John 20:26, where 
the disciples are said to have 
met again after " eight days/' 
i. e. evidently after a week, on 
the eighth day after our Lord's 
resurrection. 

For the Feast of Weeks, see 
Pentecost. 

WEEPING, see Funeral. 

WEIGHTS. The Hebrews 
weighed all the gold and silver 
they used in trade. The shekel, 
the half shekel, the maneh, the 
talent, are not only denomina- 
tions of money, of certain values, 



in gold and silver, but also of 
certain weights. The iveight 
of the sanctuary, or weight of the 
temple, Ex. 30:13,24. Lev. 5:5. 
Num. 3:50. 7:19. 18:16, &c. 
was probably the standard weight, 
preserved in some apartment 
of the temple, and not a different 
weight from the common shekel ; 
for though Moses appointed, that 
all things valued by their price 
in silver should be rated by the 
weight of the sanctuary, Lev. 
27:25, he makes no difference 
between this shekel of twenty 
gerahs, and the common shekel. 
Ezekiel, 45:12, speaking of the 
ordinary weights and measures 
used in traffic among the Jews, 
says that the shekel weighed 
twenty gerahs : it was therefore 
equal to the weight of the sanc- 
tuary. See the Table of 
Weights and Measures, at 
the end of the volume. 

WELLS, or Springs, are 
frequently mentioned in Scrip- 
ture. The Hebrews call a well 
beer ; whence this word is often 
compounded with proper names, 
as Beer-sheba, Beeroth-bene-jaa- 
kan, Beeroth, Beerah, &c. 

How little do the people of 
this country understand, feeling- 
ly, those passages of Scripture 



WIL 



[ 353 ] 



WIN 



which speak of want of water, 
of paying- for that necessary 
fluid, and of the strife for such a 
valuable article as a well! So 
we read, " Abraham reproved 
Abimelech, because of a well of 
water, which Abimelech's ser- 
vants had violently taken away," 
Gen. 21: 25. So, c. 26:20," The 
herdsmen of Gerar did strive 
with Isaac's herdsmen ; and he 
called the well Esek, contention." 
Hence, it seems, water was 
sometimes paid for. Thus it is 
said in Num. 20 : 17,19,— " We 
will not drink of the water of the 
wells : — If I and my cattle drink 
of thy water, then will I pay 
for it." How strange would it 
sound among us, if a person in 
travelling should propose to pay 
for drinking- water from the wells 
by the road-side ! Nevertheless, 
still stronger is the expression, 
Lam. 5:4, " We have drunk our 
own water for money;" we bought 
it of our foreign rulers, although 
we were the natural proprietors 
of the wells which furnished it. 
The custom of demanding pay 
for water of the traveller is still 
found in the East, as may be 
seen under the article Cistern. 

WHEAT is the principal and 
most valuable kind of grain for 
the service of man, and is pro- 
duced in almost ever}' part of 
the world. It is comprehended 
under the general name of grain 
or corn. See Corn. 

WILDERNESS, see Desert. 

WILLOW, a very common 
tree, which grows in marshy 
places, with a leaf much like that 
of the olive. God commanded 
the Hebrews to take branches 
of the handsomest trees, particu- 
larly of the willows of the brook, 
and to bear them in their hands 
before the Lord, as a token of 
rejoicing, at the Feast of Taber- 
nacles. Lev. 23:40. 
30* 



WIMPLE, a veil or hood. 
But the Hebrew signifies, prop- 
erly, a broad and Targe mantle 
or shawl. So in Ruth 3:15, 
Boaz gives Ruth six measures 
of barley, which she carries 
away in her mantle, not veil, as 
in the English translation. So 
inlsa.3:22. 

WINDS. The winds which 
most commonly prevail in Pales- 
tine are from the western quar- 
ter ; more usually, perhaps, from 
the south-west. The Rev. E. 
Smith also remarked to the 
writer, that not unfrequently a 
north wind arises, which, as in 
ancient days, is still the sure har- 
binger of fair weather ; illus- 
trating the truth of the observa- 
tion in Prov. 25:23, "The north 
wind driveth away rain.' 7 For 
the tempestuous wind called 
Euroclydon, see that article. 

But the principal object which 
we have here in view is the East 
Wind of the Scriptures, which is 
represented as blasting and dry- 
ing up the fruits, Gen. 41 :6. 
Ezek. 17:10. 19-12, &c. and 
also as blowing with great vio- 
lence, Ps. 48:7. Ezek. 27:26. 
Jonah 4:8, &c. It is also the 
" horrible tempest," properly 
glow-wind, of Ps. 11 :6. This is 
a sultry and oppressive wind 
blowing from the south-east, and 
prevailing only in the hot and 
dry months of summer. Coming 
thus from the vast Arabian des- 
ert, it seems to increase the heat 
and drought of the season, and 
produces universal languor and 
relaxation. Mr. Smith, who ex- 
perienced its effects during the 
summer, at Beyrout, describes it 
as possessing the same qualities 
and characteristics as the Si- 
rocco, which he had felt at 
Malta, and which also prevails 
in Sicily and Italy ; except that 
the Sirocco, in passing over the 



WIN 



[354] 



WIN 



sea, acquires great dampness. 
The Sirocco is described by 
Brydone, as resembling- a blast 
of burning steam from the mouth 
of an oven j in a few minutes 
those exposed to it find every 
fibre relaxed in an extraordinary 
manner. This wind is more or 
less violent, and of longer or 
shorter duration at different 
times ; seldom lasting more than 
thirty-six or forty hours ; and, 
notwithstanding its scorching 
heat, it has never been known 
to produce epidemical disorders, 
or to do any injury to the health 
of the people. These characteris- 
tics, except the dampness, apply 
entirely to the east wind of Pal- 
estine, which is dry and wither- 
ing. 

Many interpreters, however, 
have chosen to refer the east 
wind of the Scriptures to the oft 
described wind of the desert, 
called by the Arabs Sinioom, 
(Semoom, or Smoum,) bv the 
Turks Samiel, and in Egypt 
Camsin; which has long retained 
the character of a pestilential 
wind, suddenly overtaking trav- 
ellers and caravans in the deserts, 
and almost instantly destroying 
them by its poisonous and suffo- 
cating breath. The result, how- 
ever, of the researches of more 
modern and judicious travellers, 
seems to show, that the former 
accounts of the destructive power 
of this wind have been, at least, 
much exaggerated ; and that the 
authors of these accounts either \ 
had their credulity imposed upon 
by the Arabs, or else have de- 
scribed certain facts in such a 
way, as to impart to them a col- 
oring, and cause them to make I 
an impression, which the naked 
facts themselves would not war- } 
rant. 

The following extract from | 
Burckhardt exhibits his judgment I 



upon the accounts of former 
travellers, and gives also a graph- 
ic idea of the Simoom, or Camsin. 
In describing his journey across 
the great Nubian desert, in 1814, 



he 



gives 



the results of all his ob- 



servations upon the Simoom, in 
the following manner : — 

" March 22, 1814.— At the end 
of five hours, we halted in a Wa- 
dy. The wind was still southerly. 
I again inquired, as I had often 
done before, whether my com- 
panions had often experienced 
the Semoum, which we ranslate 
by the poisonous b.asi of the 
desert, but which is nothing more 
than a violent south-east wind. 
They answered in the affirma- 
tive ) but none of them had ever 
known sin instance of its having 
proved fatal. Its worst effect is, 
that it dries up the water in the 
skins, and so far endangers the 
travellers' safety. In these south- 
ern countries, however, [Nubia,] 
water-skins are made of very 
thick cow leather, which are al- 
most impenetrable to the Se- 
moum. In Arabia and Egypt, on 
the contrary, the skins of sheep or 
goats are used for this purpose 3 
and I afterwards witnessed the 
effect of a Semoum upon them, 
in going from Tor to Suez, in 
1815, when, in one morning, a 
third of the contents of a full 
water-skin was evaporated. I 
have repeatedly been exposed to 
the hot wind, in the Syrian and 
Arabian deserts, in Upper Egypt 
and Nubia. The hottest and 
most violent I ever experienced 
was at Suakin, on the Nubian 
coast of the Red sea 5 yet, even 
there, I felt no particular incon- 
venience from it, although ex- 
posed to all its fury in the open 
plain. For my own part, I am 
perfectly convinced, ti>at all (he 
stories which travellers, or \\ e 
inhabitants of the towns of Egypt 



WIN 



[ 355 ] 



WIN 



and Syria, relate of the Semoum 
of the desert 7 are greatly exag- 
gerated 5 and I never could hear 
of a single ivell-authenticated in- 
stance of its having proved mor- 
tal, either to man or beast. The 
fact is, that the Bedouins, when 
questioned on the subject, often 
frighten the town's-people with 
tales of men, and even of whole 
caravans having perished by the 
effects of the wind ; when, upon 
close inquiry, made by some 
person whom they find not ig- 
norant of the desert, they will 
slate the plain truth. I never 
observed that the Semoum blows 
close to the ground, as commonly 
supposed, but always observed 
the whole atmosphere appear as 
if in a state of combustion ; the 
dust and sand are carried high 
into the air, which assumes a red- 
dish, or bluish, or yellowish tint, 
according to the nature and color 
of the ground, from which the 
dust arises. The yellow, how- 
ever, always, more or less, pre- 
dominates. In looking through 
a glass of a light yellow color, 
one may form a pretty correct 
idea of the appearance of the 
air, as I observed it during a 
stormy Semoum at Esne, in Up- 
per Egypt, in May, 1813. The 
Semoum is not always accom- 
panied by whirlwinds ; in its less 
violent degree, it will blow for 
hours with little force, although 
with oppressive heat ; when the 
whirlwind raises the dust, it then 
increases several degrees in heat. 
In the Semoun at Esne, the 
thermometer mounted to 121° in 
the shade ; but the air seldom 
remains longer than a quarter of 
an hour in this state, or longer 
than the whirlwind lasts. 

" The most disagreeable effect 
of the Semoum on man is, that 
it stops perspiration, dries up the 
palate, and produces great rest- 



lessness. I never saw any per- 
son lie down flat upon his face 
to escape its pernicious blast, as 
Bruce describes himself to have 
done in crossing this very desert ; 
but during the whirlwinds, the 
Arabs often hide their faces with 
their cloaks, and kneel down 
near their camels, to prevent the 
sand or dust from hurting their 
eyes. Camels are always much 
distressed, not by the heat, but 
by the dust blowing into their 
large, prominent eyes. They 
turn round, and endeavor to 
screen themselves by holding 
down their heads ; but this I 
never saw them do, except in 
case of a whirlwind, however in- 
tense the heat of the atmosphere 
might be. In June, 1813, going 
from Esne to Siout, a violent 
Semoum overtook me upon the 
plain, between Farshiout and 
Berdys. I was quite alone, 
mounted upon a . light-footed 
hedjin. When the whirlwind 
arose, neither house nor tree was 
in sight, and while I was endeav- 
oring to cover my face with my 
handkerchief, the beast was made 
unruly by the quantity of dust 
thrown into its eyes, and the 
terrible noise of the wind, and 
set off at a furious gallop. I lost 
the reins, and received a heavy 
fall ; and not being able to see 
ten yards before me, I remained 
wrapped up in my cloak on the 
spot where I fell, until the wind 
abated, when, pursuing my drom- 
edary, I found it at a great dis- 
tance, quietly standing near a 
low shrub, the branches of which 
afforded some shelter to its 
eyes." 

To these statements it is al- 
most unnecessary to add, that 
they are confirmed by the oral 
testimony of the American mis- 
sionaries who have visited those 
regions. The Rev. Mr. Smith, 



wo 



[356] 



WOL 



in particular, stated expressly to 
the editor, that, so far as his op- 
portunities of experience and in- 
quiry, in Egypt and Palestine, 
had extended, the views given 
by Burckhardt were entirely cor- 
rect. We must, therefore, it 
would seem, abandon the long 
prevalent idea of the poisonous 
nature of the hot wind of the des- 
ert j while it may no doubt be true, 
that individuals, previously ex- 
hausted by the heat of the sea- 
son, have sunk under the still 
greater heat of this wind ; as is, 
also, not very seldom the case 
in the more sultry days even of 
our own clime. In the caravans, 
too, which cross these arid 
wastes, there are always more 
or less who are feeble and lan- 
guid, and who thus maybe easi- 
ly overcome, and perish by a 
greater degree of heat, and 
especially by a sudden aug- 
mentation of it through a sultry 
wind. The great Hadj route 
from Egypt to Mecca, across 
the desert El Tyh, is strewed 
with the bones of animals, and 
studded with the graves of pil- 
grims, that have died on the 
route, from fatigue, exhaustion, 
disease, &c. but not in general 
from any fatal influence of the 
wind, or atmosphere. 

WINE, see Vine. ForWine- 
Press. see Press. 

WISE MEN of the East, see 
Magi. 

WITCH, WIZARD, see 
Sorcerer. 

WO is sometimes used in our 
Bibles where a softer expres- 
sion would be at least equally 
proper : " Wo to such a one !" 
is, in our language, a threat, or 
imprecation, which comprises a 
wish for some calamity, natural 
or judicial, to befall a person ; 
but this is not always the mean- 
ing of the word in Scripture. 



We find the expression, "Wo 
is me !" that is, Alas, for my 
sufferings ! and " Wo to the 
women with child, and those who 
give suck I" &c. that is, Alas, for 
their redoubled sufferings, in 
times of distress ! It is also more 
agreeable to the gentle character 
of the compassionate Jesus, to 
consider him as lamenting the 
sufferings of any, whether per- 
son or city, than as imprecating, 
or even as denouncing, them ; 
since his character of judge 
formed no part of his mission. 
If, then, we should read, " Alas, 
for thee, Chorazin ! Alas, for 
thee, Bethsaida !" we should do 
no injustice to the general senti- 
ments of the place, or to the char- 
acter of the person speaking. 
This, however, is not the sense 
in which too is always to be 
taken ; as when we read, " Wo 
to those who build houses by 
unrighteousness, and cities by 
blood :" wo to those who are 
" rebellious against God," &c. in 
numerous passages, especially of 
the O. T. 

WOLF, a ferocious wild ani- 
mal, the canis lupus of Linnaeus, 
belonging to the dog genus. In- 
deed, it closely resembles the 
dog ; and it is only by a few 
slight differences of shape that 
they are distinguished. They 
never bark; but only howl. The 
dogs of the American Indians, 
which also never bark, are said 
to be a species of reclaimed 
wolf. Wolves are cruel, but 
cowardly animals ; they fly from 
man, except when impelled by 
hunger ; in which case, they 
prowl by night in great droves 
through villages, and destroy any 
persons they meet. In severe 
winters, wolves assemble in large 
troops, and join in dreadful howl- 
ings, and make terrible devasta- 
tions. They are at all times the 



YEA 



[ 357 ] 



YOK 



peculiar object of terror to shep- 
herds 5 as the defencelessness 
and timidity of the sheep render 
it an easy prey to wolves. The 
wolf inhabits the continents of 
Europe, Asia, Africa and Amer- 
ica. Driven in general from the 
populous parts of the country, he 
is yet every where found in large 
forests and mountainous regions. 
WORMWOOD, a plant which 



grows wild about dunghills, and 
on dry waste grounds. It flowers 
in summer 3 the leaves have a 
strong, offensive smell, and a very 
bitter, nauseous taste ; the flow 
ers are equally bitter, but less 
nauseous. Its bitter qualities 
are mentioned in several com- 
parisons in Scripture. 
WRITING, see Book. 



Y. 



YEAR. The Hebrews always 
had years of twelve months. 
But at the beginning, and in the 
time of Moses, they were solar 
years of twelve months, each 
month having thirty days, ex- 
cepting the twelfth, which had 
thirty-five days. We see, by the 
enumeration of the days of the 
deluge, Gen. c. 7 and 8, that the 
Hebrew year consisted of 365 
days. It is supposed that they 
had an intercalary month at the 
end of 120 years ; at which time 
the beginning of their year would 
be out of its place full thirty 
days. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that no mention is made in 
Scripture of the thirteenth month, 
or of any intercalation 5 and 
hence some think that Moses re- 
tained the order of the Egyptian 
year, which was solar, and con- 
sisted of twelve months of thirty 
clays each. After the time of 
Alexander the Great, and of the 
Grecians, in Asia, the Jews reck- 
oned by lunar months, chiefly in 
what related to religion and to 
the festivals ; and since the com- 
pleting of the Talmud, they use 
years wholly lunar 5 having al- 
ternately a full month of thirty 
days, and a defective month of 
twenty-nine days. To accom- 



modate this lunar year to the 
course of the sun, at the end of 
three years they intercalate a 
whole month after Adar, which 
intercalated month they call Ve- 
adar, that is, second Adar. 

Their civil year has always 
begun in autumn, at the month 
Tizri ; but their sacred year, by 
which the festivals, assemblies 
and other religious acts were 
regulated, began in the spring, 
at the month Nisan. See 
Month. 

YESTERDAY is used to de- 
note all time past, however dis- 
tant ; as to-day denotes time 
present, but of a larger extent 
than the very day on which one 
speaks : " Jesus Christ, the same 
yesterday, to-day and for ever." 
Heb. 13:8. His doctrine, like 
his person, admits of no change ; 
his truths are invariable. With 
him there is neither yesterday 
nor to-morrow, but one continued 
to-day. Job says, 8:9, "We 
are but of yesterday, and know 
nothing; because our days upoi. 
earth are a shadow." 

YOKE, the instrument in 
which oxen work ; hence put as 
the symbol of subjection and 
servitude, 1 K. 12:10. Acts 15 1 
10. Gal. 5:1. 



ZAC 



[ 358 ] 



ZAR 



z. 



ZACCHEUS, chief of the 
publicans ; that is, farmer-general 
of the revenue. Luke 19:5. 
When Christ passed through Jer- 
icho, Zaccheus greatly desired 
to see him, but could not, be- 
cause of the multitude, aud be- 
cause he was low of stature. 
He therefore ran before, and 
climbed up into a sycamore tree. 
Jesus, observing him, called him 
down, and proposed to became 
his guest. The result was, that 
the heart of Zaccheus was open- 
ed, and he declared he would 
make fourfold restitution to all 
whom he had injured. 

I. ZACHARIAH, king of Is- 
rael, succeeded his father, Jero- 
boam II. B. C. 780, and reigned 
six months. He did evil in the 
sight of the Lord, and Shallum, 
son of Jabesh, conspired against 
him, killed him in public, and 
reigned in his stead. Thus was 
fulfilled what the Lord had fore- 
told to Jehu, that his children 
should sit on the throne of Israel 
to the fourth generation. 2 K. 
14:29. 15:8—11. 

II. ZACHARIAH, a person 
mentioned Matt. 23: 35. Luke 11 : 
51, and most probably designat- 
ing the son of the high-priest Je- 
hoida, (or Barachias,) who was 
stoned to death by order of king 
Joash. 2Chr.24:20— 22. Some 
suppose the prophet Zechariah 
to be intended ; but history gives 
no account of his death. Others 
refer it to a Zacharias, the son 
of Baruch, who was put to death 
just before the destruction of Je- 
rusalem. 

III. ZACHARIAH, or Zech- 
ariah, the eleventh of the lesser 
prophets, was son of Bara- 



j chiah, and grandson of Iddo. 
He returned from Babylon with 
Zerubbabel, and began to proph- 
esy in the second year of Da- 
rius, son of Hystaspes, B. C. 
520, in the eighth month of the 
holy year, and two months after 
Haggai. These two prophets, 
with united zeal, encouraged the 
people to resume the work of the 
temple, which had been discon- 
tinued for some years. Ezra 5 : 1. 

Zechariah is the longest and 
the most obscure of the twelve 
minor prophets. His style is 
broken and unconnected; but 
his prophecies concerning the 
Messiah are more particular and 
express than those of most other 
prophets. 

IV. ZACHARIAH, or Zach- 
arias, a priest of the family of 
Abia, father of John (he Baptist, 
and husband to Elisabeth, Luke 
1 :5,12, &c. with whom he was 
righteous before God, walking 
in all the commandments and 
ordinances of the Lord blameless. 

ZADOK, a high-priest of the 
Jews, of the race of Eleazar, in 
the days of David. See under 
Abiathar. 2 Sam. 8:17. 
1 Chr. 18:1G. 24:3,6,31. 

ZAMZUMMIM, ancient gi- 
ants who dwelt beyond Jordan, 
in the country afterwards inhab- 
ited by the Ammonites. Deut. 
2:20. See Ammonites. 

ZARED, see Zered. 

ZAREPHATH, a city of the 
Sidonians, between Tyre and 
Sidon, in Phoenicia, on the coast 
of the Mediterranean sea, and 
afterwards called Sarepta. It is 
betw.-vin Tyre and Sidon, and 
was th<* residence of the prophet 
Elijah, with a poor woman, dur 



ZED 



[ 359 J 



ZEL 



ing a famine in the land of Israel. 
IK. 17:9,10. 

ZEBEDEE, father of the 
apostles James, and John the 
evangelist, was a fisherman by 
profession. His wife was called 
Salomp, and his two sons left 
him to follow our Saviour. Matt. 
4:21. 

ZEBULUN, the sixth son of 
Jacob and Leah, Gen. 30:20, 
was born in Mesopotamia. Mo- 
ses gives us no particulars of his 
life ; but Jacob, in his last bless- 
ing, Gen. 49 : 13, said, " Zebulun 
shall dwell at the haven of the 
sea, and he shall be for a haven 
of ships, and his border shall be 
unto Zidon." His portion ex- 
tended to the coast of the Med- 
iterranean, one end of it border- 
ing on this sea ; and the other on 
the sea of Tiberias. Josh. 
19:10. 

ZECHARIAH, see Zacha- 

RIAH. 

ZEDEKIAH, or Mattani- 

ah, the last king of Judah, be- 
fore the captivity of Babylon, 
was son of Josiah, and uncle to 
Jeconiah, his predecessor. 2 K. 
24:17,19. When Nebuchadnez- 
zar took Jerusalem, he carried 
Jeconiah to Babylon, with his 
wives, children, officers, and the 
best artificers in Judea, and put 
in his place his uncle Mattaniah, 
whose name he changed to Zed- 
ekiah, and made him promise, 
with an oath, that he would 
maintain fidelity to him. He 
was twenty-one years old when 
he began to reign at Jerusalem, 
and he reigned there eleven 
years. He did evil in the sight 
of the Lord, committing the 
same crimes as Jehoiakim. 2 K. 
24:18-r20. 2 Chr. 36:11—13. 
Comp. Ezek. 17:12,14,18. In 
the ninth year of his reign, he 
revolted against Nebuchadnez- 
zar, in consequence of which the 



Assyrian marched his army into 
Judea, and took all the fortified 
places. In the eleventh year of 
his reign, on the ninth day of the 
fourth month, (Juty,) Jerusalem 
was taken. The king and his 
people endeavored to escape by 
favor of the night ; but, the Chal- 
dean troops pursuing them, they 
were overtaken in the plain of 
Jericho. Zedekiah was taken 
and carried to Nebuchadnezzar, 
then at Riblah, in Syria, who 
reproached him with his perfidy, 
caused all his children to be slain 
before his face, and his own eyes 
to be put out ; and then, loading 
him with chains of brass, he 
ordered him to be sent to Baby- 
lon. 2 K. c. 25. Jer. c. 39. 
c. 52. 

ZELOTES, a surname given 
to Simon the Canaanite, one of 
the apostles. It signifies, prop- 
erly, one passionately ardent 
in any cause, a zealot. Thus, 
among the ancient Hebrews, 
those who, from zeal for the in- 
stitutions of their religion, re- 
proved or punished such as com- 
mitted offences against them, 
were said to be zealots. Comp. 
Num. 25:6— 13. In the age of 
Christ and the apostles, this 
name was applied particularly 
to an extensive association of 
private individuals, who under- 
took to maintain the purity of 
the national worship, by inflicting 
punishment, without the form of 
trial, on all who should violate 
any of the institutions, &c. which 
they held sacred. They were 
impelled, as they said, by a more 
than human zeal $ and were cer- 
tainly guilty of the greatest ex- 
cesses and crimes. 

The name Zelotes was, there- 
fore, probably given to Simon 
from the circumstance of his 
having been one of the Zelotae. 
The name Canaanite, or, more 



ZER 



[ 360 ] 



ZIP 



properly, Cananite, is also most 
probably here of the same signi- 
fication, being derived from the 
Heb. kdnd, which is entirely 
equivalent in meaning to Ze- 
lotes. 

ZEPHANIAH, the ninth in 
order of the minor prophets, 
lived under king Josiah, and 
prophesied probably in the early 
part of his reign, a few years 
earlier than Jeremiah. His 
prophecy contains two oracles, 
in three chapters, directed against 
the remains of idolatry, and 
against wicked rulers, priests 
and prophets. The style and 
manner resembles that of Jere- 
miah. Nothing is known of his 
further history. 

ZERAH, the Ethiopian, 
2 Chr. 14:9, was probably the 
head of an Arabian tribe, in the 
vicinity of the Red sea. (See 
Cush 2.) He came out against 
Asa with a large army. 

ZERED, or Zared, a brook 
or torrent which takes its rise in 
the mountains of Moab, and, 
running from east to west, falls 
into the Dead sea. It seems to 
be the stream which Burckhardt 
calls Wady Beni Hammad, south 
of the Arnon, and about five 
hours north of Kerek, the ancient 
Charak Moab. Num. 21:12. 
Deut. 2:13,14. 

ZERUBBABEL, or Zoroba- 
bel, son of Salathiel, of the 
royal race of David, and the 
leader of the first colony of Jews 
which returned from the Bab- 
ylonish captivity. Cyrus com- 
mitted to his care the sacred 
vessels of the temple, with which 
he returned to Jerusalem. Ezra 
1:11. He is always named first, 
as being chief of the Jews that 
returned to their own country. 
Ezra 2:2. 3:8. 5:2. He laid 
the foundations of the temple, 
Ezra 3:8,9. Zech. 4:9, &c. 



and restored the worship of the 
Lord, and the usual sacrifices. 
When the Samaritans offered to 
assist in rebuilding the temple, 
Zerubbabel and the principal 
men of Judah refused them this 
honor, since Cyrus had granted 
his commission to the Jews only. 
Ezra 4:2,3. We know nothing 
further of his history. 

ZIDON, see Sidon. 

ZIF, the second month of the 
holy year of the Hebrews ; after- 
wards called Jiar ; it answers 
nearly to April. 1 K. 6 : 1. See 
Month. 

ZIMRI, a general of half the 
cavalry of Elah, king of Israel. 
He rebelled against his mas- 
ter, 1 K. 16:9,10, killed him, 
and usurped his kingdom. He 
cut off the whole family, not 
sparing any of his relations or 
friends ; whereby was fulfilled 
the word of the Lord denounced 
to Baasha, the father of Elah, by 
the prophet Jehu. Zimri reigned 
but seven days ; for the army of 
Israel, then besieging Gibbethon, 
a city of the Philistines, made 
their general, Omri, king, and 
came and besieged Zimri in the 
city of Tirzah. Zimri, seeing 
the city on the point of being 
taken, burned himself in the pal- 
ace with all its riches. 

ZIN, a desert south of the 
Land of Promise. See Sin II. 

ZION, a mountain of Jerusa- 
lem. See Sion. 

ZIPPORAH, daughter of 
Jethro, wife of Moses, and moth- 
er of Eliezer and Gershom. 
When Moses fled from Egypt, 
he withdrew into Midian, where, 
having stood up in defence 
of the daughters of Jethro, 
priest or prince of Midian, 
against shepherds who would 
have hindered them from water- 
ing their flocks, Jethro took him 
into his house, and gave him his 



ZOA 



[361] 



zuz 



daughter Zipporah in marriage, 
by whom he had two sons, 
Eliezer and Gershom. Ex. 2 : 15, 
&c. 18:2—4. 

ZOAN, a royal city of Egypt, 
and extremely ancient. It was 
called in Greek Tanis, Judith 
1 : 10, and built, perhaps, by emi- 
grants, Num. 13:22. Psalm 
78:12,43. Isa. 19:11,13. 30:4. 
Ezek. 30:14. 

ZOAR, a city on the southern 
extremity of the Dead sea, was 
destined, with the other five 
cities, to be consumed by fire 
from heaven ; but, at the inter- 
cession of Lot, it was preserved. 
Gen. 14:2. It was originally 
called Bela ; but after Lot en- 
treated the angel's permission to 
take refuge in it, and insisted on 
the smallnessof this city, it had the 
name Zoar, which signifies small. 
31 



ZOBAH, a kingdom or coun- 
try of Syria, whose king carried 
on war with Saul and David. 
1 Sam. 14:47. 2 Sam. 8:3. 
10:6. It seems to have lain 
near Damascus, and to have in- 
cluded the city Hamath, 2 Chr. 
8:3 j but also to have extended 
towards the Euphrates. 2 Sam. 

o . o 

ZOROBABEL, see Zerub- 

BABEL. 

ZUZIM, certain giants who 
dwelt beyond Jordan, and were 
conquered by Chedorlaomer and 
his allies. Gen. 14:5. The 
Chaldee and the LXX have 
taken Zuzim in the sense of an 
appellative, for stout and valiant 
men. They are not improbably 
the same with the Zamzummims. 
Deut.2:20. 



TABLES 



WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONEY, MENTIONED 
IN THE BIBLE. 



1. Jewish Weights, reduced to English Troy Weight. 

lbs. oz. pen. gr. 

The gerah, one twentieth of a shekel 12 

Bekah, half a shekel 5 

Theshekel 10 

The maneh, 60 shekels 2 6 

The talent, 50 manehs, or 3000 shekels 125 



2. Scripture Measures of Length, reduced to English Measure. 

Eng. ft. inches. 

digit 0.912 

4~JApalm 3.648 



12 | :^|Aspan 10.944 



2'| 6| 3|Acubit 1 



9;| 24 1 ts| 2|Afathom 7 3.552 



144 J 35 | 12 | 6| 1.5 | Ezekiel's reed 10 11.328 



192 | 48 | 16 | 8 | 2 | 1.3 \ An Arabian pole 14 7.104 



1921 1 480 | 160 | 80 | 2") | 13.3 | 10 | A schamus or measuring line. 145 11.04 



3. Tlie long Scripture Measures 

Eng. miles, paces, feet. 
Acubit 1.824 



400 | A stadium or furlong 145 4.6 



21011 5 | A sabbath day's journey 729 3 



4000 | 10 | 2 | An eastern mile 1 403 1 



12000| 30 | 6| 3|Aparasang 4 153 3. 



96000 | 240 | 48 | 24 | 8 | A day's journey 33 172 4. 



TABLES OF WEIGHTS, MEASURES AND MONEY. 363 



4. Scripture Measures of Capacity for Liquids, reduced to English 
Wine Measure. 

Gal. pints. 

Acaph 0.625 

1.3 | Alog 0.833 



5.3 | 4 | A cab 



16 | 12 | 3 | A bin 1 2. 

32 | 24 | 6 | 2 1 A seah 2 4. 



72 | 18 | 6| 3 | A bath or ephah 7 4. 



960 | 720 | 180 | 60 | 20 | 10 | A kor or choros, chomer or homer. 75 5. 



5. Scripture Measures of Capacity for Tilings dry, reduced to 
English Corn Measure. 

Pecks, gal. pints. 



A 1 il 













1 
3 

16 
32 

lard. 

$ 
f 

> 



25 

1505 

2 

24309 


0.1416 










2.8333 














5.1 














1. 












3d0 1 18 | 10 | 3 | An ephah 


3. 




0. 




kor . 

Eng 

£ 



5 
342 


5475 








3600 | 180 | 100 | 30 | 10 | 2 | A homer or 


1. 


lish 

». 


1 

2 

14 
3 

12 




Stant 

d. 
1.368' 

1.687i 

3.375 

0.75 

9. 

0.5 

0. 








6. Jewish Money, reduced to the 


cts. 
02.5 






10 | A bekah 


25.09 






23 | 2 | A shekel 


50.187 






1200 | 120 | 50 | A maneh, or mina Hebr 


09.35 


60000 | 6000 | 3000 | 60 | A talent 


62.5 


A solidus aureus, or sextula, was worth. . . . 
A talent of gold was worth 


64.09 
03. 



In the preceding table, silver is valued at 5s. and gold at £4 per ounce. 



7. Roman Money, mentioned in the New Testament, reduced to the 
English Standard. 
£ 

A mite 

A farthing, about 

A penny, or denarius 

A pound, or noma 3 



s. 


d. far. 


s 


cts. 





0| 





00.34375 





1| 





00.6875 





7 2 





13.75 


2 


6 


13 


75. 



.RBAg'27 



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